Rate My Professor Jenell Navarro

Jenell Navarro is a Professor in the Ethnic Studies Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where she joined the faculty in 2012. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from Claremont Graduate University, earned in 2011. Navarro's scholarly work centers on Indigenous Studies and Hip-Hop Studies, with additional expertise in Latina/o Studies—particularly Indigenous Latina/o Studies—as well as women of color feminism, cultural studies, and decolonial studies. Her publications explore intersections of indigeneity, hip-hop, anti-violence activism, and resistance to settler colonialism and anti-Blackness. She co-edited the anthology Otherwise Worlds: Against Settler Colonialism and Anti-Blackness (Duke University Press, 2020) with Tiffany Lethabo King and Andrea Smith, contributing the introduction "Beyond Incommensurability: Towards an Otherwise Stance on Black and Indigenous Relationality" and the chapter "The Countdown Remix: Why Two Native Feminists Ride with Queen Bey" (with Kimberly Robertson). Other key works include "Leading with Our Hearts: Anti-Violence Action and Beadwork Circles as Colonial Resistance" (with Laura Harjo and Kimberly Robertson) in Keetsahnak: Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters (University of Alberta Press, 2018); "Braided Together: Native and Black Hip-Hop Against Police Violence" (with José Navarro) forthcoming in Thinking about Hip-Hop: Blackness, Indigeneity, and Identity; "The Promise of the Jaguar: Indigeneity in Contemporary Chican@ Graphic Art" in rEvista (2017); "WORD: Hip-Hop, Language, and Indigeneity in the Americas" in Journal of Critical Sociology (2016); and "Solariz-ing Native Hip-Hop: Native Feminist Land Ethics and Cultural Resistance" in Journal of Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society (2014).

Navarro has been recognized for her outstanding service and mentoring with several awards from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, including the University Nominee for the Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Emerging Scholars Award (2018), Office of University Inclusion and Diversity Mentoring Award (2018), President’s Faculty Diversity Award (2017), Assigned Time Award for Exceptional Level of Service to Students (2018 and 2019), University Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award (2015-2016), and Mustang Mentor Award from the Athletic Department (2016). She teaches courses such as ES 112: Race, Culture and Politics in the U.S., ES 310: Hip-Hop, Politics and Poetics, ES 340: Latina/o Cultural Productions, and ES 390: Research Methods in Comparative Ethnic Studies. Navarro has also contributed texts to the art exhibit "Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Roots, Resistance and Resurgence" at the University of California, Santa Barbara, highlighting contemporary Chicana/o and Latina/o graphics, and emphasizes Indigenous language revitalization through hip-hop.