Rafael Martinez

Rafael Martínez is an Assistant Professor of Southwest Borderlands in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts. At ASU, he teaches courses on the American Southwest, Arizona History, the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, and Transborder Chicano Literature. Rafael is also a Program Faculty for the MA Narrative Studies program in CISA. 

Rafael’s work focuses on immigration, migration, the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, and the American Southwest. His first book with the University of Arizona Press, Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States, analyzes the rise of Undocumented Youth Social Movements in the U.S. and immigrant youth’s contributions to the broader Immigrant Rights Movements. Rafael's work engages in Borderlands Studies to demonstrate how communities along the Mexico-U.S. border contribute to the social, political, and economic fabric of the U.S.

Rafael is engaged in public projects that seek to connect academic work with community development. As such, he has focused considerable efforts in exploring the historical contributions of Latinx and ethnic communities in Phoenix's East Valley. In 2023, Rafael completed a project, Querencia: Voices from Chandler's Latinx Barrios, where he collected the oral histories of Latinx community members across Chandler's historical barrios and contemporary immigrant neighborhoods. The project's success culminated in an exhibit and digital archive of the oral histories with the Chandler Museum. For his research and work in public history, Rafael was awarded the Dr. Manuel Servin Faculty Award by the Chicano/Latino Faculty Staff Association (CLFSA) and the Líderes Under 40 Award by the Los DBacks Organization.