Dr. Celeste Menchaca

Biography

Celeste R. Menchaca is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Southern California, specializing in nineteenth-century U.S.-Mexico borderlands history. Her research focuses on the complexities of cultural and social interactions along the border during this period. Menchaca's work has been published in notable journals such as the Pacific Historical Review and the Journal of American Ethnic History. She was awarded the Jensen Miller Award from the Western Historical Association in 2021 for her article 'Staging Crossings: Policing Intimacy Performing Respectability at the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1907-1917', and the Barbara 'Penny' Kanner Award from the Western Association of Women Historians in 2022. Menchaca is currently working on a book manuscript that explores the development of the U.S.-Mexico border in the nineteenth century. Her academic journey includes a Ph.D. in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California, and she has held a postdoctoral fellowship at Southern Methodist University.

Research Interests

Experience