Matthew David Goodwin, Assistant Professor, Chicana/o Studies

Name:

Matthew David Goodwin

Title:

Assistant Professor

Department:

Chicana/o Studies

Describe your research in about 200 words.

My research is centered Chicanx/Latinx speculative fiction, in particular how Chicanx/Latinx writers are using science fiction and fantasy to explore migration. My study The Latinx Files: Race, Migration, and Space Aliens was released through Rutgers University Press in 2021. In this book I show how the space alien is a vital Latinx figure preserving Latinx cultures by activating the myriad possible constructions of the space alien to represent race and migration in the popular imagination. My research is intertwined with my work as an editor and translator of fiction anthologies. I am the editor of Latinx Rising: An Anthology of Latinx Science Fiction and Fantasy as well as the co-editor along with Sarah Rafael García and Alex Hernandez of the young adult collection Speculative Fiction for Dreamers (both with Ohio State University Press). These anthologies show how significant the speculative arts have been to Latinx literature as well as highlighting the many contemporary authors who are writing in these genres.

What’s the most interesting thing you have learned from a student?

That Mexico has an enormous reserve of lithium, which is so important to new technologies.