Biography
Breanna Escamilla (she/her/hers) is a Doctoral Candidate in Linguistic and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). She has also completed the graduate coursework requirements for the Graduate Minor in Latina/Latino/x Studies from the Department of Latina/o Studies and the Graduate Minor in Queer Studies from the Department of Gender and Women's Studies. Prior to UIUC, Breanna was a first-generation college student at Michigan State University and earned her B.A in Anthropology with double minors in African American and African Studies and Chicanx/Latinx Studies in 2018.
Her current research examines Twitter and Instagram as spaces wherein queer Latinas enact the self and notate their everyday lived experiences through the feminist digital practices of writing, documentation, and aesthetics.
Breanna is currently a 2023 – 2024 fellow with the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry.
Research Interests
Latina feminisms, Women of Color Feminisms, Ethics, Language, Gender and Sexuality, Queer Studies, Language, Race and Ethnicity, Latinx Studies, Digital Ethnography, Media and Culture, Visual Aesthetics, Data Governance.
Education
Graduate Education | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- PhD Anthropology | In Progress
- Graduate Minor in Latina/Latino Studies | Department of Latina/o Studies
- Graduate Minor in Queer Studies | Department of Gender and Women's Studies
Undergraduate Education | Michigan State University
- Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology | May 2018
- Minor in African American and African Studies | Department of African American and African Studies
- Minor in Chicano/Latino Studies | Chicano/Latino Studies Program
Awards and Honors
2023 – 2024: Summer Dissertation Fellowship. Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
2023: Graduate College Mentoring Certificate. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
2023: Zora Neale Hurston Scholarship. Zeta National Educational Foundation.
2023 – 2018: Graduate College Fellowship. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
2022: Humanities Without Walls Summer Bridge Experience. Humanities Research Institute, Graduate College of Illinois, and We CU. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
2022: Lambda Theta Alpha Foundation Scholar.
2022: LIST OF TEACHERS RANKED AS EXCELLENT BY THEIR STUDENTS. Center for Innovation, Teaching and Learning. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
2021: National Humanities Without Walls Pre-Doctoral Career Diversity Workshop Fellowship. Humanities Research Institute. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
2021: Summer Research Award. Department of Anthropology. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Courses Taught
Teaching Assistant for ANTH 270: Language in Culture during Spring 2022.
Teaching Assistant for ANTH 103: Anthropology in a Changing World during Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023.
Teaching Assistant for ANTH 101: Introduction to Anthropology during Fall 2022, Fall 2023.
Research Assistant for the Diaspora and Border Racial Justice Youth Project during the 2021 - 2022 Academic Year.
Additional Campus Affiliations
Breanna is affiliated with the Department of Latina/Latino Studies as a LLS graduate minor.
Breanna is affiliated with the Department of Gender and Women's Studies as a Queer Studies graduate minor.
Breanna is a first-generation college graduate and affiliated with the UIUC First Generation Student Unit.
Since fall 2020, Breanna has been a peer-mentor through the UIUC Doctoral Research Support Program.
From fall 2019 through May 2023, Breanna mentored through the Illinois Promise Scholars Program.
