Divana Olivas
- University of New Mexico | BA | Chicana/o Studies
- University of Southern California | Ph.D | American Studies and Ethnicity
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Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, national and highly competitive dissertation fellowship that recognizes high-achieving scholars committed to diversifying the professoriate. 2021. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Ford Foundation.
Richard “Dick” Cone Award for Graduate Engaged Scholarship, honors the efforts of graduate students who address specific needs in the community through their research. 2021. Joint Educational Project, University of Southern California.
Sara Jackson Graduate Student Award, supports graduate students of color whose dissertation promises significant impact to the field of Western History. 2020. Western History Association.
She/Her/Ella
Dr. Divana Olivas is an Assistant Professor of Chicana/o Studies at the University of New Mexico. She is the co-creator of Jardín Ollin, an ecological education initiative centered on cultural memory and transformative knowledge. Dr. Olivas serves on the board of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center and is affiliated with UNM’s Southwest Hispanic Research Institute. Her writing on food politics, environmental justice, and New Mexico history appears in Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, Oxford University Press, Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of the Greater Southwest, and in local publications like Green Fire Times and Edible New Mexico. She grew up in Valencia County and is a proud daughter of Mexican immigrant parents.
Research Interests
- CCS 551 Cultural Expressions in Chicana/o Studies
- CCS 593 Archival Power and Theory
Olivas, Divana. 2025. “Chicana/o Food Imaginaries in New Mexico.” Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies 50 (2): 19–44. https://doi.org/10.1525/azt.2025.50.2.19.
Olivas, Divana. 2025. “Albuquerque.” In Latino Studies, by Divana Olivas. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199913701-0284.
Olivas, Divana. 2025. “Armando’s Ants: On Ritual, Kinship, and the Ecologies of Human-Ant Relationships.” Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of New Mexico and the Greater Southwest 4, 1 (2025). University of New Mexico. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/chamisa/vol4/iss1/3.
Ternikar, Farha Bano, Willa Zhen, Joshua Lopez, Divana Olivas et al. 2025. “Racial Justice in Food Studies: A Conversation with Practitioners 2024.” Food, Culture & Society, September 3, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2025.2550051.
Chicana/o/x Studies Jardín Ollín: Garden of Chicanx Culture and Wisdom, co-coordinator
Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, national and highly competitive dissertation fellowship that recognizes high-achieving scholars committed to diversifying the professoriate. 2021. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Ford Foundation.
Richard “Dick” Cone Award for Graduate Engaged Scholarship, honors the efforts of graduate students who address specific needs in the community through their research. 2021. Joint Educational Project, University of Southern California.
Sara Jackson Graduate Student Award, supports graduate students of color whose dissertation promises significant impact to the field of Western History. 2020. Western History Association.
