IDEAL Provostial Fellow | Department of Anthropology | Stanford University
Download CV here
Download CV here
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Dr. Hector M. Callejas received his Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. His research analyzes race and racism in contemporary society from critical and interdisciplinary perspectives, with a regional focus on the Americas. Empirically, his work centers on the Central American country of El Salvador. He uses ethnography, cultural analysis, and archival research to investigate the governance of race relations across contexts, scales, and processes. His current and future projects focus on Indigeneity and security, respectively. Hector is interested in understanding why racial inequalities persist, and what the possibilities are for resistance, justice, and change
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Hector’s current project, Limits of Indigeneity: Race, activism, and the state in El Salvador, analyzes the relationship between racial hierarchy, Indigenous movements, and state politics in Latin America. The project explains how, why, and to what effects activists mobilize discourses and visual images of Indigenous peoples to resist state colorblindness and systemic anti-Indian racism in Salvadoran society. It argues that this activism institutionalizes Indigeneity as a subject of modern governance in ways that undermine advocacy, expand state power, and reinforce racial inequality. The project shows how this process unfolded between key institutions, actors, and publics during the 2010s, the decade when activists and officials established state recognition of Indigenous peoples under an emerging regime of national multiculturalism. The project foregrounds the limits of Indigeneity for combatting racial discrimination and transforming the state, and the need for alternative political subjectivities to decolonize power structures in Latin America and beyond.
Hector has begun a new project that extends my research on race and racism in Latin America. The project explores the entanglements of race and security in El Salvador. It focuses on the régimen de excepción, or state of exception, implemented by the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the Salvadoran government under the current Bukele administration. This relatively new and highly controversial governmental regime has received popular support for making the country safe for ordinary citizens and foreigners after decades of gang violence following the 1992 Peace Accords. The regime has also received criticism from domestic and international human rights defenders for imprisoning alleged gang members without due process. The project investigates how the production of newly secured space intersects with race relations and related issues, such as Indigeneity, memory, sovereignty, development, welfare, violence, and the environment.
Hector's research informs his pedagogy. He teaches students how to articulate academic knowledge production and community engagement from interdisciplinary and critical perspectives. He has taught the following courses: Indigeneity (Graduate; Fall 2023); Race, Indigeneity, and Cultural Heritage in Latin America (Undergraduate; Spring 2023); Indigenous politics in the Americas (Undergraduate; Spring 2021); and Introduction to Ethnic Studies (Undergraduate; Fall 2020).
Hector's research and teaching are grounded in his lived experiences. He is from the Mexican community in Sacramento, California. His parents immigrated from El Salvador and Guatemala.
Hector has begun a new project that extends my research on race and racism in Latin America. The project explores the entanglements of race and security in El Salvador. It focuses on the régimen de excepción, or state of exception, implemented by the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the Salvadoran government under the current Bukele administration. This relatively new and highly controversial governmental regime has received popular support for making the country safe for ordinary citizens and foreigners after decades of gang violence following the 1992 Peace Accords. The regime has also received criticism from domestic and international human rights defenders for imprisoning alleged gang members without due process. The project investigates how the production of newly secured space intersects with race relations and related issues, such as Indigeneity, memory, sovereignty, development, welfare, violence, and the environment.
Hector's research informs his pedagogy. He teaches students how to articulate academic knowledge production and community engagement from interdisciplinary and critical perspectives. He has taught the following courses: Indigeneity (Graduate; Fall 2023); Race, Indigeneity, and Cultural Heritage in Latin America (Undergraduate; Spring 2023); Indigenous politics in the Americas (Undergraduate; Spring 2021); and Introduction to Ethnic Studies (Undergraduate; Fall 2020).
Hector's research and teaching are grounded in his lived experiences. He is from the Mexican community in Sacramento, California. His parents immigrated from El Salvador and Guatemala.