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Photograph of Salvador Vidal-Ortiz

Salvador Vidal-Ortiz Associate Professor Sociology

Degrees
PhD, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

MA, California State University--Humboldt

BA, Universidad de Puerto Rico--Recinto de Río Piedras

Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Favorite Spot on Campus
the small garden on the way to the Amphitheater
Book Currently Reading
Being Brown: Sonia Sotomayor and the Latino Question, by Lázaro Lima (https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520300897/being-brown)
Bio
Dr. Vidal-Ortiz's scholarship cuts across racialization, sexuality, gender, migration and religion; his work is interdisciplinary. He coedited two award winning books: , and , co-authored a book with two former students, Brandon Andrew Robinson and Cristina Khan, titled , and is completing a book manuscript about race, gender and sexuality in Գٱí (an Afro-Cuban religious-cultural practice).

Within the American Sociological Association (ASA), he was elected Chair of the Latina/o Sociology section; in the past, he has served as convener (and first non-elected Chair) of the Sociology of the Body and Embodiment section, is Past Chair of the Sexualities Section, and served as inaugural editorial board member for , from the Race and Ethnic Minorities section (where he was a Council member as well). In 2018, he served as tri-chair for ASA's Sexualities Section Pre-conference: . Outside of the discipline, he was an inaugural editorial board member for ; he also co-edited a special issue of , on as part of the . In DC, he has supported community-based groups such as Different Avenues -see related essay on - and the .

He continues Fulbright-based research on displacement and LGBT people in Bogotá, Colombia. With Juliana Martínez, he edited (loosely translated as Trans-ing knowledge: trans* people’s education in Argentina) - based on narratives from students and teachers that show the challenges and opportunities of trans-inclusion in three public education sites in the greater Buenos Aires province. He has taught sociology of race and ethnicity at ; in Colombia, a qualitative research methods course for the graduate social sciences program at ; one on migration, gender and sexuality for the Masters in cultural studies at , also in Colombia; and in Brazil, a course on race, gender and sexuality inclusion in education for the Masters in Education at .

He has received a few important honors and fellowships recently: during Fall 2019, he held a Distinguished Scholar in Residence position in the at the College of the Holy Cross; for Spring 2022, he was the at Michigan State University; and during AY 2023-24, he was a at University at Buffalo.
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Fall 2024

  • SOCY-351 Race, Racialization and Power

  • SOCY-351 Race, Racialization and Power

  • SOCY-453 Intersectionality: Theory/Prac

Partnerships & Affiliations


  • Member since 1997


  • Member since 2002


  • Member since 2004


  • Member since 2004


  • Member since 2004


  • Member since 2005

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Selected Publications

  • 2024. [with Emma Busch]. “ENLACE: Latina/o gay and lesbian ruptures in the Archives.” Latino Studies 22, 1: 196-215.
  • 2023. [with Natalia Ruiz-Junco]. “W.E.B. Du Bois as interactionist: Reflections on thecanonical incorporation of a marginalized scholar.” Symbolic Interaction 46, 3: 332-348.
  • 2023. [with Juliana Martínez].“From rage to love: Travesti-centred education in Argentina.” Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning 23(3): 263-270.
  • 2022. [with Cristina Silva & Michelle Newton-Francis]. “Negotiating Racialized Organizational Spaces and Intimacies: An Ethnography of Erotic Labor at The Playpen Strip Club.” Gender, Work and Organizations.
  • 2021. [with Juliana Martínez]. “Travar el saber: Travesti-Centred Knowledge Making and Education.” Bulletin of Latin American Research, 40, 5: 665-678.
  • 2021."A Sea of Whiteness: Teaching Sexuality through a New Sociology at a USAmerican University." Teaching Sociology 49, 4: 223-232.
  • 2021. [with Pierce, Joseph M., Maria Amelia Viteri, Diego Falconí Trávez & Lourdes Martínez-Echazábal, eds.] Special Triple Issue - “Cuir/Queer Américas: Translation, Decoloniality, and the Incommensurable.” GLQ: A journal of lesbian, gay, and queer studies (USA); El Lugar Sin Límites (Argentina); ʱó徱ܲ (Brazil).
  • 2021. [with Mendieta, Andrés] “Administering Gender: Trans Men’s Sexual and Reproductive Challenges in Argentina.” International Journal of Transgender Health 22, 1-2: 54-64.
  • 2020. [with Moussawi, Ghassan]. “A Queer Sociology: On Power, Race, and Decentering Whiteness.” Sociological Forum 35, 4: 1272-1289.
  • 2020. “Transgender Movements.” Pp. 463-479 in Companion to Gender Studies. Edited by Nancy A. Naples. Wiley/Blackwell.
  • 2020. [with Giancarlo Cornejo Salinas and Juliana Martínez]. “LGBT studies withoutLGBT studies: mapping alternative pathways in Perú and Colombia.”Journal ofHomosexuality67, 3: 417-434 (Special Issue: 25 years of Gay and Lesbian Studies).

  • 2019. “Rejoicing on Lionel Cantú’sDe Ambiente: Queer Tourism and theShifting Boundaries of Mexican Male Sexualities.”GLQ: Gay and Lesbian Studies Quarterly(Special 25thAnniversary issue of GLQ): 25, 1: 73-77.

  • 2018. [with Gloria González-López].“Sociology of Sexualities, Latinas and Latinos– A review of the Field.”Sexualities 21, 8: 1282-1286. (Special Issue: 20 years of sexualitiesstudies).

  • 2018.[with Juliana Martínez].“Latinx Thoughts:Latinidadwith an X.”Latino Studies16, 3: 384-395.

  • 2017. [Review essay]. WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly 45, 1-2: 310-315.
  • 2016.“Sofía Vergara: onmediarepresentations of Latinidad.” Pp. 85-99 in Race and Contention in Twenty-first Century U.S. Media, Jason Smith and Bhoomi K. Thakore, (eds). Routledge Transformations in Race and Media Series. Routledge.
  • 2015. [with José Fernando Serrano].“Masculinities, “Profeminism,” and Feminism in Latin America.” Pp. 321-340 in , Wendy Harcourt and Rawwida Baksh (eds). Oxford University Press of America.
  • 2014. [withFernanda T.Bianchi, Carol A. Reisen, Maria Cecilia Zea, Felisa A. Gonzales, Fabián Betancourt, Marcela Aguilar, andPaul J. Poppen]. “Sex Work Among Men Who Have Sex With Men and Transgender Women in Bogotá.” Archives of Sexual Behavior 43: 1637-1650.
  • 2014.“Foreword.” Pp. ix-xvii in, by María Amelia Viteri. New York: SUNY Press.
  • 2014. Keyword: “Whiteness.” (Inaugural Issue: Keywords in Trans Studies.)TSQ: Transgender StudiesQuarterly. 1, 1-2: 264-266.

  • 2013. [with Brandon Andrew Robinson] "Displacing the Dominant Down Low Discourse: Deviance, Same-sex Desire, and Craigslist.org." Deviant Behavior 34, 3: 224-241.
  • 2011. Presentación del Dossier: :"¿Cómo se piensa lo queer en América Latina?" ("How is 'queer' thought of in Latin America?") Iconos 39: Revista de Ciencias Sociales 15, 1: 47-60. (edited special issue with María Amelia Viteri and José Fernando Serrano).
  • 2011. [with Natalia Ruiz-Junco]."Autoethnography: the sociological through the personal."Pp. 193-211 in , edited by Ieva Zake and Michael DeCesare. McFarland Publishers.
  • 2010. “Blurring the boundaries of being, the field, and nation: Puerto Rico,the Bronx, andԳٱí.” Pp. 197- 219 inFieldwork Identities in the Caribbean, Erin B.Taylor, ed. Caribbean Studies Press.
  • 2010. [with Tomás Almaguer, Héctor Carrillo, and Carlos U. Decena].“Revisiting Activos and Pasivos: Towards New Cartographies of Latino/Latin American Male Same-Sex Desire.” Pp. 253-273 in . Marysol Asencio (ed). Rutgers University Press.
  • 2009. “The figure of the trans-woman of color through the lens of ‘Doing Gender.’” Gender & Society, 23, 1: 99-103.
  • 2008. “The Puerto Rican way is more tolerant: Constructions and uses of ‘homophobia’ among Գٱí practitioners across ethno-racial and national identification.” Sexualities 11, 4: 476-495.
  • 2008. “Transgender and Transsexual Studies: Sociology’s Influence and Future Steps.” Sociology Compass, 2, 2: 433-450.
  • 2006. [with AnanyaMukherjea].“Studying HIV Risk in Vulnerable Communities:Methodological and Reporting Shortcomings in The Young Men’s Study in New York City.”TheQualitative Report, 11, 2: 393-416.
  • 2004. “On Being a White Person of Color: Using Autoethnography to Understand Puerto Ricans’ Racialization.” Qualitative Sociology, 27, 2:179-203.
  • 2004. “Puerto Ricans and the Politics of Speaking Spanish.” Latino Studies,2, 2:254-8.

  • 2002. “Queering Sexuality and Doing Gender: Transgender men’s identificationwith gender and sexuality.” Gendered Sexualities (Advances in Gender Research, Volume 6).Pp. 181-233. Patricia Gagné and Richard Tewksbury, eds. NY: Elsevier Press.

  • 2001. “A World of Its Own, Not the Best of Both Worlds.” [Bisexuality in theUS: A SocialSciences Reader.Paula C. Rodríguez Rust, ed. (2000).]Journal of Sex Research,38, 3:271-273.

Research Interests

Primary:

Race/Ethnic Studies; Puerto Rican and Latino Studies; Racialized Sexualities; SexualityStudies; Transgender/TranssexualStudies; Queer Theory; Qualitative Methods, Autoethnography.

Secondary:

Body/Embodiment; HIV/AIDS; Social Policy; Applied Research; Migration; Religion.

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

  • 2022 - Society for the Study of Social Problems, Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Division for Outstanding Article Award: "A Queer Sociology."
  • 2022 -American Sociological Association (ASA) Sociology of Sexualities Section, Honorable mention, for best article: "A Queer Sociology."
  • 2022 - ASA Race, Gender and Class Section, Honorable mention, for best article: "A Queer Sociology."
  • 2022 - Inaugural Scholar-in-Residence, Stephen O. Murray Fellowship, James Madison College, Michigan State University.
  • 2019 - Distinguished Faculty-in-Residence, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, College of the Holy Cross.
  • 2016 -American Anthropological Association (AAA) Association for Queer Anthropologists, Winner, Ruth Benedict Book Prize, Outstanding Edited Volume, for Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latina/o LGBTActivism(University of Texas Press, 2015)
  • 2011 -Ford Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Alternate
  • 2010 -The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship, Council for International Exchange of Scholars, A Division of the Institute of International Education. Location: POntificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia.
  • 2010 - ASA Sociology of Sexualities Section, Winner, Best Book Award, for The Sexuality of Migration. (New York University Press, 2009)
  • 2010 -Honorable mention, Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Latino Studies Section, for The Sexuality of Migration. (New York University Press, 2009)
  • 2010 -LASA, Sexualities Studies Section, Winner, Carlos Monsiváis Best Social Science Academic Essay, for “Revisiting Activos and Pasivos: Towards New Cartographies of Latino/Latin American Male Same-Sex Desire.” in Latina/o Sexualities. (Rutgers University Press, 2010)
  • 2009 -Faculty Award. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Resource Center, AU
  • 2008 -Distinguished Faculty (single faculty award, University wide), Multicultural Affairs/International Student and Scholar Services, American University
  • 2006 -Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS) of the City University of New York.Paul Monette-Roger Horowitz Dissertation Award.
  • 2005 -Eastern Sociological Society (ESS) Rose Laub Coser Dissertation Proposal Award.
  • 2004-5 -Society for the Study of Social Problems Racial/Ethnic Minority Graduate Scholarship
  • 2004-5 -American Sociological Association (ASA), Sociology of Sexualities Section,Martin P. Levine Memorial Dissertation Fellowship
  • 2003-4 -Social Science Research Council, Sexuality Research Fellowship Program, Dissertation Research Fellow
  • 2004 -ASA Race & Ethnic Minorities Section, James E. Blackwell student paper, honorary mention: “On being a white person of color: using autoethnography to understand Puerto Ricans’ racialization” (published in the journal Qualitative Sociology)
  • 2002 -ASA Sociology of Sexualities Section, student paper, winner: Sexuality, gender, and race: LGBTs at the crossroads of Գٱí religious practices and beliefs
  • 2002 -Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality Student Research Grants

Media Appearances

MEDIA COVERAGE/INTERVIEWS/RADIO SHOWS

  • Podcast with host Lezli Levene Harvell, in the Iconoclast Dinner Experience, Impolite Conversations Series. Episode #11: Hamburgers and Hot Dogs Are German...You Know That, Right? Vol 3: Hierarchy In Academia, Parallels in LGBTQ Community, Latine + Latinx. (September 2020). Found here: https://tinyurl.com/2r84agpe.

  • Interview appeared on August 1, 2019, in Radio Caput, within the "Fluid gender"radio section (a local Buenos Aires radio program focusing on LGBT issues). Discussed the state of affairs in Puerto Rico and LGBT activism on the Island leading to the resignation of the governor.

  • Interview appeared on November 9, 2018, on the launching of "Travar el Saber,"inRadio En Casa(Radio at Home -alocal Buenos Aires radio program focused on LGBT issues.)

  • Interview appeared on July 11, 2011 inCentro Latinoamericano en Sexualidades y Derechos Humanos.“Sexualidad y Migración.” (Migration and Sexuality.) Conducted by Franklin Gil Hernández(Published in Spanish, Portuguese, and English).

  • Interview appeared on May 5, 2011 in Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Radio. “The JaverianaAcademy.” Discussed gender/queer studies in relation to the University’s curriculum and activism(a Jesuit University that had, in 2011, significant,visible LGBT programming).

  • Interview appeared on September 22, 2009 inReligion Dispatchers.“Animal Sacrifice and SexualityinԳٱí.” Conducted by Nick Street.

  • Interviewed September 17, 2007, Telemundo, Inc. - Segment on DC metro area Black/Latino relationsand recent tensions between both groups, as part of an exploration of possible coalitions.TV appearance: November 2007.

  • Interviewed April 11, 2006 inEscucha y Ponte Trucha.Hostedby Radio Campesina(a southwestradio station focusing on immigrant populations). Discussed the impact of immigration onthe sexuality, gender relations, and sexual education of Latin American immigrants.

POPULAR MEDIA/ONLINE ESSAYS/BLOGS:

Contributor (in both English and Spanish) to blogs including Feminist Reflections, Inside Higher Ed, and 80 grados:

- April 2018

- November 2017

- September 2017

- March 2017

- September 2016

- July 2016

- June 2016