Santiago Andrés Garcia

ASA Gloria E. Anzaldúa Scholar and Professor of Anthropology

Hello everyone, and welcome! My name is Santiago Andrés Garcia (Ixtlahuacano Xicano). I was born in Monterey Park, California. I call both the San Gabriel Valley and Ixtlahuacán de Los Membrillos, Jalisco, my home. I am an ASA Gloria E. Anzaldúa scholar and Professor of Anthropology at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. At LA Trade-Tech, I oversee the newly formed Anthropology Laboratory. I have taught humanities and anthropology courses for fifteen years.

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My purpose in life is to teach, train, and inspire students to help them achieve their personal and educational goals. As an Indigenous Chicano Anthropologist, I believe the greatest concern of the day deals with how the human body moves and its relationship to the land and cosmology. How did humans evolve and coexist alongside plants and animals? What role did the Earth’s natural resources play in our growth as complex human beings? How did humans survive in times of severe stress when unfavorable conditions dominated night and day? How does the Indigenous human body heal?

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In 2015, I received the ASA Gloria E. Anzaldúa Award for my work with students in the classroom involving the making of Mesoamerican clay-figurines. In 2019, I received a major Mellon/ACLS Community College Award to support my work with college students and related research. In 2022, I was awarded a generous NEH/ACLS Public Engagement Award to continue my student engagement. As a result, I have developed a growing body of publications and intellectual projects at various stages in both the United States and Mexico.​

I am actively advising and mentoring students. If your interests align with my own and you would like to chat, we can schedule a Zoom.