Biography
Nathalie Sofia Martinez (she/her/ella) is a Doctoral Student, Latina, and settler currently studying on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. She is originally from Las Vegas, Nevada on Southern Paiute lands and her raíces are from Colombia and El Salvador.
Research Interests
coloniality, collaborative methodologies, critical Indigenous theories, raciolinguistics, sound studies, Indigenous language reclamation, Guatemala, Abya Yala
Education
Graduate Education | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- PhD Anthropology | In Progress
- Graduate Minor in Music and Sound Studies | School of Music
- Graduate Minor in American Indian Studies | American Indian Studies Program
- Graduate Minor in Gender & Women's Studies | Department of Gender and Women's Studies
- Graduate Minor in Latina/o Studies | Department of Latina/o Studies
Undergraduate Education | University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- B.S. in Anthropology & B.A. in French, Summa Cum Laude | May 2021
- Minor in Spanish
- Minor in Business Administration
Grants
Summer Research Assistance Award – Department of Anthropology, 2024
American Ethnological Society – Preliminary Thesis Research Grant, 2023
Lambda Alpha XLVI Senior Scholarship, 2021
Awards and Honors
Whitten Fellowship – Center for Caribbean and Latin American Studies, 2025
Interseminars Fellowship - Humanities Research Institute, 2023-2024
Summer Predoctoral Institute Outstanding Fellow, 2022
Summer Predoctoral Institute Outstanding Scholar, 2022
Summer Predoctoral Institute Fellowship, 2022
Graduate College Fellowship, 2022- 2026
Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship, 2022
Additional Campus Affiliations
La Casa Cultural Latina, GOLS Advisory Board Representative
Graduate Organization for, by & of Latine Students (GOLS), President [2023-2024] & Co-Founder