“Research has opened many doors for me”

Fourth-year student Cris Avitia Camacho reflects on how UCLA’s research programs shaped their path toward graduate study and teaching.  

 

For UCLA student Cris Avitia Camacho, research offers an opportunity to explore and understand the connections between culture, identity and community. A fourth-year triple major in Chicanx studies, labor studies, and gender studies, with a minor in LGBTQ studies, Avitia Camacho has made research a deeply personal part of their undergraduate journey. 

 

“People should research something that they’re passionate about, something that is meaningful to them because that’s what inspires the best research,” Avitia Camacho said. “It really builds a foundation for a career that you never imagined you could have.” 

 

As an immigrant and a first-generation student, college wasn’t a guarantee for Avitia Camacho. “I didn’t really see myself being able to continue my education beyond high school due to structural violence in Mexico,” they said. “But once I came to the US and to college, I realized I didn’t just want to finish my education, I wanted to take it to the next level.”  

 

Their research journey began with the UCLA Undergraduate Research Center for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (URC-HASS), which offers workshops, scholarships, and other enrichment opportunities for students interested in research. Through the Undergraduate Research Fellows Program (URFP), Avitia Camacho examined how religion, culture, and identity shape relationships between Latinx mothers and their assigned-female-at-birth LGBTQ+ children, a project inspired by their own experiences as a nonbinary lesbian and member of a Latinx family. 

 

After completing the URFP program, Avitia Camacho was selected for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF), which supports students preparing for doctoral study and academic careers. Their current project explores goth and punk subcultures at nightclubs in Los Angeles, focusing on how LGBTQ+ Latinx women, trans men, and gender expansive individuals navigate safety, belonging, and resistance in these spaces. 

 

“Yes, it is fun,” they said. “But I don’t want to just have fun at the night club. I want to understand how Latinx and LGBTQ+ individuals navigate and transform goth nightlife spaces. I want to explore the intersections of race, gender and sexuality within the subculture and how they challenge dominant narratives of Latinidad heteronormativity, and mainstream representations of alternative aesthetics.” 

 

For Avitia Camacho, research has been a transformative part of the UCLA experience. “I think what has made doing research a valuable part of my experience is that it has opened many doors for me,” they said. “It has allowed me to see career opportunities that I never imagined. It has allowed me to see myself not only as a scholar and a researcher, but even a future educator.” 

 

Avitia Camacho is already putting her teaching skills into practice. They’ll be teaching a student-designed course through the Undergraduate Student Initiated Education (USIE) program titled “Latinx Cultural Production in Los Angeles.” 

 

“I’m really hopeful about being not only a researcher, but also an educator,” they said. “Research and education have always been interlinked for me. I’m excited to be teaching this year, it’s a big step for me as a future educator.”  

 

As Avitia Camacho prepares to graduate, they are applying to Ph.D. programs in American studies, gender studies, or anthropology. They hope to continue researching culture and identity while mentoring the next generation of scholars saying, “I wanted other people who come from similar backgrounds as me to see that people are doing research, that people are taking unconventional paths.”