Amalia C. Mora

Amalia C. Mora is an ethnomusicologist whose research focuses on how gender-based violence is implicated in various kinds of popular narratives and how these narratives are negotiated “on the ground.” Her specific areas of research and expertise include gender violence in relation to performance, tourism and cultural production, race, and nationalism; the music and dance of India and Latin America; musicodance traditions and healing; sex work and the political economy of intimacy; and mixed race body politics. She moved to Tucson in 2016 after receiving her doctorate from UCLA, which explored the relationship between sexual violence, racialized narratives on dancers and their bodies, and women who perform for tourists in Goa, India. 

Prior to joining the Consortium team, she contributed to the Tucson Museum of Art folklife collection as a researcher and writer and had the honor of serving as Folklorist in Residence for the Southwest Folklife Alliance as well as a Visiting Folklorist for the Tucson Meet Yourself annual festival. Amalia’s role with the Consortium consists of managing the center’s Innovation Fund as well as developing and overseeing its academic and creative engagement portfolio. She is also an affiliated faculty member in the Human Rights Practice Program and is a dedicated mentor who loves to help create career pathways for students. 

Amalia is also a performing artist who has received training in music, dance, acting, and creative writing from institutions and professionals including the Colburn Music Academy, UCLA, Kyra Humphrey (Los Angeles Master Chorale), Khori Dastoor (Los Angeles Opera, Opera San Jose), and Liz Lira (25-time world champion dancer). Most recently, she performed in the world premiere of The Hall of Final Ruin, a play written by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos and directed by Alida Holguín Gunn. Her writing on the intersection of performance, race, and gender violence has appeared in a wide variety of publications. Amalia loves living in Tucson, where her abuela’s family migrated en route to California from Sonora many years ago.