I am a cultural anthropologist from Ciudad Juárez, México. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

In 2022, I published the book titled “Oaxaca in Motion: An Ethnography of Internal, Transnational, and Return Migration” (University of Texas Press 2022). In “Oaxaca in Motion,” I analyze how masculinity and femininity shape, and are shaped by, internal and transnational migrations. This book is based on ethnographic research I conducted in Santa Ana Zegache (Oaxaca), Mexico City, and in different locations along the U.S. West Coast.

I’m also the co-editor of “The Marginalized in Death: A Forensic Anthropology of Intersectional Identity in the Modern Era” (Lexington Books 2022). This volume, co-edited with Dr. Jennifer Byrnes, combines perspectives from both forensic and cultural anthropology, emphasizing the potential for interdisciplinary research.

My current project, which I have been developing since 2017, examines the emergent animal protection movement in urban Mexico in the midst of continuous violence and ongoing challenges to the Mexican legal system. This project seeks to understand how animals become political within specific contexts, and it is based on ethnographic fieldwork research in México (mainly in Ciudad Juárez) and on digital research. This research has been generously funded by UCLA Law, the Culture and Animals Foundation, and the Animal Law and Policy Program at Harvard Law School. You can read more about my research projects here: Research. Email: ivan.sandoval-cervantes@unlv.edu Academia.edu: https://unlv.academia.edu/IvanSandovalCervantes You can also follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IvanAntropologo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isandovalcervantes/