Assistant Professor, Gender and Women's Studies
Education
- 2020 Ph.D., American Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT
- 2017 WGSS Certificate, Yale University, New Haven, CT
- 2017 M.A., American Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT
- 2013 B.A., Ethnic Studies, University of California San Diego, CA. Awarded with honors and distinction, magna cum laude.
- 2010 A.A. in Social and Behavioral Sciences, San Diego City Community College, CA. Awarded with honors.
Courses Taught
Vergara Bracamontes research and teaching is rooted in Latinx studies, critical prison studies, and queer and trans of color critique with an emphasis on Latinx migration in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. HIs teaching has been recognized on the list for Teachers Ranked Excellent since 2021.
- GWS 393 Policing Latinx (Im)migrant Communities
- GWS 255 Queer Lives, Queer Politics
- GWS/HIST 387 History of Sexuality
- GWS 201 Race, Gender, and Power
- GWS 580 Queer Theories and Methods
selected service activities
In 2019 Damian was awarded the Public Scholar award by Yale University in recognition of his academic researchʼs concrete impact on society at large and his engagement with local communities and policy makers. He teaches know your rights and community defense workshops, is a registered expert with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, and has served as an expert witness of country conditions and gender violence.
selected publications
- "Abolish or Adapt: Pinkwashing ICE through Transgender "Care'," GLQ" A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (2025) 31(4)
- "Trans Studies Syllabus for Bullshit Times," The Abusable Past, May 18, 2023.
- "The Latinx Migrant Dictionary," Routed Magazine, October 23, 2022.
- "Migrant Insubordination: Politicizing Detention through Queer Migrant Kinship," Ethnic Studies Review (2022) 45(1):3-22.
- "Martinez, Roberto (1937-2009), Chicano rights activists and political organizer." American National Biography, April 28, 2022.