MT Vallarta
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Ethnic Studies
Pronouns: they/them/their(s)
Areas of Interest
- Asian American Studies
- Filipinx Studies
- Poetry and Poetics
- Queer and Feminist Theory
Contact Information
- Office: Bldg. 38, Rm. 214
- Phone: 805-756-1781
- Email: vallarta@calpoly.edu
About MT Vallarta
MT Vallarta (they/them) is a poet and professor who researches and teaches Asian American Studies, Filipinx Studies, Queer and Feminist Theory, English Literature, and Creative Writing. Their first research monograph, Dismantle Me: Queer, Mad, and Anti-imperialist Filipinx Poetry, investigates the radical tradition of Filipinx poetry produced by queer, trans, disabled, and mad writers from the late 19th-century to the present. They argue that "madness," or mental illness, functioned as a source of both creativity and demise for Filipinx people under U.S. empire. To date, their research is published and forthcoming in Asian American x LatinX, The Velvet Light Trap, Beyond the X: Queer and Trans Filipinx Studies, and others.
Dr. Vallarta is the author of the poetry collection, What You Refuse to Remember (Harbor Editions), winner of the 2022 Small Harbor Publishing Laureate Prize. They have received awards and fellowships from Kundíman, Roots. Wounds. Words., The Rowan Foundation, and more. Their poetry and creative writing can be found in The Selkie, Shō, Nat. Brut, Apogee, Blanket Sea, and others.
Previously, Dr. Vallarta was the 2021 - 2023 Guarini Dean's Pre-to-Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian American Studies at Dartmouth College. They received their Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Riverside.
Selected Publications
- MT Vallarta, "Toward a Filipinx Method: Queer of Color Critique and QTGNC Mobilization in Mark Aguhar's Poetics," The Velvet Light Trap (2020): https://doi.org/10.7560/VLT8605.
- MT Vallarta, "'I'd Rather Be Beautiful Than Male:' Remembering the Radical Art of Mark Aguhar" VICE (2018): https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5bwm8/mark-aguhar-art-id-rather-be-beautiful-than-male.
- MT Vallarta, "A gesture toward--," Nat. Brut: Beyond Resilience Folio (2018): https://www.natbrut.com/mt-vallarta.