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Mario Espinoza-Kulick is currently researching health advocacy and access for Latinx immigrant communities along the Central Coast in California. His intersectional identity as a Queer mixed-race Chicanx individual with Indigenous cultural roots has provided him unique experiences throughout his journey that give him a distinctive depth in researching immigrant communities at risk for illness and disease. Knowing that health access is simply unequal in immigrant communities motivates Mario to continue his work on ways in which healthcare agencies and social movement organizations can advocate for marginalized groups in culturally appropriate ways.
MORE ABOUT MARIO
Mario Espinoza-Kulick is a third-year doctoral student in Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Mario’s research focuses on the intersections of race, class and gender, immigration, and health social movements. Most recently, he finished his master’s thesis, “The Care-Advocacy Paradox: How Social Movement Organizers Strategize in Support of People Living with HIV/AIDS” which researched how the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power garnered attention for people living with HIV/AIDS during an era when most people affected by the epidemic were being dismissed and underserved.
DISSERTATION GRANT AWARDEE — MAY 2019
La Gente Unida: Latinx Immigrant and Indigenous Health and Advocacy on California’s Central Coast
Latinx Immigrant communities face overlapping structural barriers to positive health, including xenophobic policies, racism, settler-colonialism, and the disparate impacts of public health issues like the COVID-19 pandemic. This project developed and utilized a decolonial-inspired methodological framework to center community knowledge of health concerns and advocacy strategies. These findings are useful at multiple levels, including for community members, policymakers, and advocates, as well as researchers in sociology, ethnic studies, and public health.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HPRS DISSERTATION AWARDS, CLICK HERE.
