PERSONAL BIO

I first acknowledge my Filipino familial lineage, a vital part of me. I am daughter of Marites Nielo and Andrecito Obra Nievera. I am granddaughter to Maria Teresa Caludac & Melencio Nielo of Dagami, Leyte, Philippines; and Prescita Obra & Andrew Nievera, Sr. of Kalinga, Baguio City, and Pangasinan, Philippines. I am a queer 2nd generation Pinay (Filipina American) born and raised in San Diego, CA (Kumeyay territory). With over twenty years of community-based, critically engaged cultural work in the Filipinx American community, I'm a full-time ethnic studies professor at EVC (on the homeland of the Tamien Nation). My lived experiences shape how I teach, write, speak, research, collaborate, organize in community, and parent. The journey of ancestral healing guides my work alongside my partner Dennis as we raise our children, Mateo, Dante, and Ayla.

Truth: it was my first ethnic studies course in community college that put me on this career path; the first class I sat in that allowed me and fellow scholars from marginalized populations to feel seen and heard differently than any other class experience before. I am honored to share this space with you. Through this course, may our shared and varying experiences help us to expand our understanding of the worlds we're all walking through. May our exchange enlighten us, and reveal to us better ways of being so that we may all be free. 

COURSES TAUGHT

Asian American Experience; Intro to Ethnic Studies; Ethnic Film: Reel Studies; Filipinxs in the U.S.; Filipinx American Identities; Asian American Culture; Intro to Pacific Islander History and Culture; Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality; Gender, Race, and Sexuality in the Media; U.S. Women of Color; Youth & the City; Race, Class and Culture in Education; and Introduction to Education – Learning, Schooling and Society.