Camila Amaya Navarrete ’27
Chicanx Latinx Studies motivates me to find and create my place at the Claremont Colleges and the greater global context in which we exist. As a Salvadoran immigrant growing up on the East Coast, I pull from both home and homeland to create my lived experiences. These transnational experiences drive my interest in learning how communities shape and are shaped by global history and politics.
Through the CLS department, I explore Central American history and politics, gaining knowledge from prevalent Central American scholars, including Professor Suyapa Portillo-Villeda at Pitzer College. As an intercollegiate department, I have the opportunity to build relationships and gain mentorship from across the consortium. In my first semester, I enrolled in Intro to Central American Studies with Professor Portillo-Villeda. As her research assistant, I became interested in the history of Central America and its relationship to U.S. foreign policy, developing a bibliography of over 55 primary and secondary sources relating to Central American history. This project was my introduction to academic research, highlighting the importance of understanding the history of regions to understand contemporary developments internationally.
A class that continues to inform my intersecting interests in Chicanx Latinx Studies and International Relations was Technofuturos: Latinx and Technology in fall 2024. Professor Magally Miranda, Chau Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Chicana/o Latina/o Studies at Pomona College, introduced me to critical race and technology scholars like Melissa Villa-Nicholas and Ivan Chaar-Lopez, exploring U.S.-Mexico border surveillance and data collection of migrants. This summer, I am pursuing a personal research project focusing on my home country of El Salvador. Specifically, reporting on the ongoing displacement of street vendors and the development of a tourism industry in El Centro Histórico (Historic Center) of San Salvador through photography, interviews, and oral histories. I seek to apply theories of racial borders and surveillance that I learned in Professor Magally’s Technofuturos class to El Salvador’s current political and economic conditions.
The CLS department and Pomona’s opportunities to research and travel abroad allow me to concurrently pursue my interests in International Relations. At the beginning of 2025, I traveled to Japan through the TOMODACHI KAKEHASHI Inouye Scholars Program promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and U.S.-Japan Council. This opportunity was presented to me by the Chicanx Latinx Studies Department in collaboration with Asian American Studies and Africana Studies.
In the near future, I aspire to build a career in public diplomacy and academia. Through Chicanx Latinx Studies, I am prepared to pursue a Ph.D. in Chicana/o and Central American Studies, History, or International Relations.
CLS gives me the intellectual space and resources to connect to my Central American roots and expand on these through research and mentorship. Despite being more than 2,000 miles from my hometown in northern Virginia—a large hub of the Salvadoran diaspora—I remain motivated by my commitment to Central American visibility and support from the CLS community.