Jessica Ordaz

CAF awarded a grant to Jessica Ordaz for her project, “Plant Powered Abya Yala.”

Jessica Ordaz is the author of Plant Powered Abya Yala: The History and Emergence of Radical Latinx Veganism (forthcoming from Duke University Press), which challenges the dominant, Eurocentric narrative of veganism by centering Indigenous, Afro-Indigenous, and Latinx relationships to land, animals, and plants throughout the Americas.

Jessica’s work critically examines veganism within Indigenous histories and radical Latinx veganism across the punk and animal liberation movements, queer Latinx veganism, and intersectional, transnational vegan politics, concluding with contemporary Latinx relationships with plants and fungi. Bridging critical animal studies, Indigenous history, food studies, environmentalism, and Latinx Studies, the project offers a decolonial framework that fundamentally reframes the origins of veganism and environmental justice.

CAF’s grant wil support essential archival research at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Rare Book Collection and archives in Mexico City, including the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Fundación Herdez Gastronomic Library.

Jessica Ordaz is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has a Ph.D. in American History from the University of California, Davis. She is the author of The Shadow of El Centro: A History of Migrant Incarceration and Solidarity.