I am a child of desegregation (Keyes v. Denver School District No. 1, 1973) and a Chicano ethnographer of education working in the scholarly tradition that emerged during the 20th century struggle against racism in the U.S. The labor in this historical vineyard consists of linking social scientific research to everyday struggles for a just society. Historically, this line of social science has provided the law with intellectual and empirical resources to perceive social life anew. To illustrate, consider the contributions of social scientists in landmark cases such as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), Loving v. Virginia (1967), and Grutter v. Bollinger (2003). With my Right to Learn Undergraduate Research Collective, founded in 2007, I am developing two interconnected strands of research: 1) an inquiry into the historical and legal origins of educational rights; 2) a social interactional method for studying the manifestations of dignity in educational activity.
Areas of Expertise
- Learning
- Dignity
- Sociogenesis of Mind
- History of Civil Rights in the U.S.
Education, Licensure & Certifications
Ph.D. (Education) University of California, Los Angeles
Awards
- 2018-2019, University of Colorado Denver, ThinqStudio Digital Pedagogy Fellowship
- 2017, The Spencer Foundation, Discretionary Grant, Developing the Concept of Educational Dignity: Examining the Highlander Folk School Audio Archives
- 2017, University of Colorado Denver, Office of Research Services, Understanding the Concept of Dignity in Four Landmark Cases: Creating a Handbook of Usage and Meaning, 2004-present
- 2012-2013, National Academy of Education & The Spencer Foundation, Postdoctoral Fellowship
Research
- Espinoza, M. (In press). Engrafted kin: The experience of ethics and cognition in scientific and artistic activity. Anthropology & Education Quarterly.
- Gutiérrez, K., Espinoza, M., et al. (In press). Becoming historical actors: Youth, learning, and agentive activity. Mind, Culture, and Activity.
- Vossoughi, S., Escudé, M., Espinoza, M., & Kitundu, W. (In press). Hands and eyes: Embodied learning, social relations, and the genesis of pedagogical perception. Anthropology & Education Quarterly.
- Erickson, F. & Espinoza, M. (In review). Introduction: Revisiting the Anthropology of Learning. Anthropology & Education Quarterly.
- Espinoza, M., Vossoughi, S., & Rose, M. (In review). Matters of participation: Notes on the study of dignity and learning. Mind, Culture, and Activity.
- Espinoza, M., Soto-Valenzuela, T., et al. (In preparation). Dignity, meaningful participation, and capabilities: An anthropological argument for education as a fundamental right of personhood.
- Espinoza, M. & Velasco, M. (In preparation.) Dignity, obligation, and duty: A social interactional analysis of federal power in the desegregation of the University of Alabama.
- Espinoza, M. & Vossoughi, S. (2014). Perceiving learning anew: Social interaction, dignity, and educational rights. Harvard Educational Review, 84 (3), pp. 285-313.
- Espinoza, M. (2009). A case study of educational sanctuary in one migrant classroom. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 4 (1), pp. 44-62.