Stephanie Perez
Email: smg8@illinois.edu
Research Interests
I analyze television series and films that center U.S. Latinx teen girls and young women, friendship, chosen family, and deconstructions of the nuclear family, while looking closely at how these concepts are intertwined with race, ethnicity, culture, and nationhood. My work is located at the intersection of Television, Film, and Media Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Girlhood Studies, and Latinx/a/o Studies. I earned an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from California State University, Los Angeles, where I wrote a master’s thesis on the Netflix sitcom, One Day at a Time. I also hold a B.A. in English and American Literature and Latin American Studies from New York University.
Recent Publications/Presentations
Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman: Latina Ingenuity and Deconstructions of the Ingenue in Netflix’s On My Block. 2020 Summer Predoctoral Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (Summer 2020)
Awards and Honors
UIUC Graduate College Fellowship
2020 Summer Predoctoral Institute
What Most People Don’t Know about Me
I was born and raised in Los Angeles and am interested in keeping up with issues and histories of gentrification, restrictive covenants, race, ethnicity, culture, food, public policy, and social justice in my hometown.
Related Links
