Martin Rizzo-Martinez

mrizzo@ucsc.edu, (831) 247-5096
www.rizzomartinez.com

EDUCATION__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT___________________________________________________________________________________________

PUBLICATIONS_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

BOOKS

“We are Not Animals”: Indigenous Politics of Survival, Rebellion, and Reconstitution in 19th Century California. Lincoln, NE: The University of Nebraska Press (Feb 2022)

ARTICLES

“‘If They Do Not Fulfill What They Have Promised, I Will Accuse Them’: Locating
Indigenous Women and Their Influence in the California Missions.” Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Autumn 2020): 291—313.

“Indigenous Homes & Social Stratification,” in Revisiting the Lost Adobe Excavations, 1981-1985: Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Indigenous History at CA-SCR-217H-T, La Misión de la Exaltación de la Santa Cruz (Mission Santa Cruz), ed. Tsim Schneider. (forthcoming)

“The Many Lives of Justiniano Roxas: The Centenarian Fantasy in American History and Memory.” Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS), Vol. 5, No. 1 (Spring 2018): 168—204. Co-written with Boyd Cothran.

BOOK CHAPTERS FORTHCOMING

“The California Missions as Sites of Conscience.” Chapter in Critical Mission Studies Handbook, University of California Press, In Press.

“’They Did Not Practice What They Preached:’ A Decolonial Tour of the California Missions in Ohlone & Coast Miwok Territories.” Chapter in Detours: Decolonial Guide to the Indigenous Bay Area, Duke University Press, In Press.

MANUSCRIPTS / ARTICLES IN PREPARATION / OR IN PROGRESS

Wounded Lee: the Red Power Movement in 1970s California in the Wake of Alcatraz (book manuscript in preparation).

“Walk for the Ancestors,” Documentary Film, Producer & Director (in production).

NON-PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS, AND OTHER WRITINGS

Foreword to Big Basin Redwood Forest: California’s Oldest State Park, Traci Bliss (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2021). Co-written with Mark G. Hylkema.

“‘He Came from an Indian Kingdom’: Lorenzana Family, Race, & Rights in a Changing Society” in Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History Journal #8 (2016).

“‘Dios no manda eso’: Indigenous Community and Leadership in the Assassination of Padre Quintana in Santa Cruz, 1812” in Evangelization and Cultural Conflict in Colonial Mexico, ed. Robert H. Jackson (Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2014), 229–260.

BOOK REVIEWS

Charles Sepulveda, Native Alienation: Spiritual Conquest and the Violence of California Missions, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. 116, No. 2 (Spring 2026):

D. Champagne and C. Goldberg, A Coalition of Lineage: The Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, California History, Vol. 100, No. 3 (2023): 116-119.

Joseph P. Sánchez, El Camino Real de California: From Ancient Pathways to Modern Byways, New Mexico Historical Review, Vol. 98, No. 1 (Winter 2023)

Heather Law Pezzarossi and Russel N. Sheptak (eds.), Indigenous Persistence in the Colonized Americas: Material and Documentary Perspectives on Entanglement, New Mexico Historical Review, Vol. 97, No. 3 (Summer 2022): 379-80.

Terri Castaneda, Marie Mason Potts: The Lettered Life of a Californian Indian Activist, California History, Vol 98, No. 3, August (Fall) 2021.

Barbara Voorhies, ed. Prehistoric Games of North American Indians: Subarctic to Mesoamerica. New Mexico Historical Review, Vol. 94, No. 3 (Summer 2019): 313—315.

Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz, Junípero Serra: California, Indians, and the 3 Transformation of a Missionary. Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 2 (May 2019): 363—364.

PUBLIC HISTORY PROJECTS

The People Who Lived Here Audio Exhibit, phone app multi-media tour situated at the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, producer.

It Needs to be Told, film projected for visitors at the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, Coproducer/original concept.

Project Manager, “For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Mission Bell as a Symbol through the Ages,” virtual exhibit, hosted online at Mission Santa Cruz State Historic Park.
https://www.parks.ca.gov/bells

Podcast Producer & Writer, Challenging Colonialism. Co-Producer with Daniel Stonebloom.

GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS & AWARDS__________________________________________________________________________________

PRESENTATIONS & APPEARANCES___________________________________________________________________________________

CONFERENCE TALKS

Presenter, “Stranger than Fiction: the Remarkable True Story of ‘Centenarian’ Justiniano Roxas,”

Maple Leaf and Eagle Conference for North American Studies, University of Helsinki,
May 21, 2026.

Panelist, “Challenging Colonial Imagery: Indigenous Centenarians and Gender in California,” Old Women and Power Conference, Huntington Library, March 26, 2026.

Presenter, “Wounded Lee: the Red Power Movement in 1970s Santa Cruz in the wake of Alcatraz,” Center for Cultural Studies, UCSC, February 18, 2026.

Presenter, “Building Alliances in Indigenous Education,” Samper Hall, Cabrillo College,
November 15, 2025.

Organizer & host, “50 years since the ‘Wounded Lee’ in Watsonville with Indian Elder Patrick
Orozco,” UCSC Cowell Hay Barn, November 5, 2025.

Chair and Commentator, “Connections Across Time: Perspectives on Native American-Mexican American Relationality,” Western History Association’s 64th Annual Conference,
Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 25, 2025.

Organizer, “50th Annivesary of ‘Wounded Lee’ with Indian Elder Patrick Orozco,” Cabrillo
College, October 14, 2025.

Chair & Commentator, “Repair and Reckoning: New Analysis of Missions and Memory in the
Southwest,” at Western History Association’s 63rd Annual Conference, Los Angeles, California, October 28, 2023.

Presenter & Panelist co-organizer, “Re-centering Indigenous Voices & Experiences at the Santa Cruz Mission,” for Western History Association’s 63rd annual Conference, October 27, 2023.

Panelist, “Land Acknowledgement Roundtable,” California State Parks conference, May 11, 2023.

Presenter, “Re-Centering Indigenous Perspectives in the California Missions,” for Virtual Reality as ‘Virtual Traveling’ for Student & Public Engagement with Historic Sites conference, UC Santa Cruz, May 10, 2023.

Presenter, “The California Missions as Contested Sites,” Indigenous Borderlands in North
America Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 5, 2022.

Panelist, “Rethinking Research: Non-Natives Working in Tribal Communities Today,” CoCreating Knowledge and Justice Conference, Santa Cruz, California, October 27, 2022.

Panelist, “How to have Complicated Conversations,” California League of Parks Associations
Conference, Woodland Hills, California, October 19, 2022.

Presenter & Panel Co-Organizer, “Wounded Lee, 1975: The Red Power Movement in the Wake of Alcatraz,” Western History Association 62nd Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas, October 13, 2022.

Panel Guest, “Showcasing New Scholarship: Martin Rizzo-Martinez, We are not Animals:
Indigenous Politics of Survival, Rebellion, and Reconstitution in 19th Century California,” Pacific Coast Brach of the merican Historical Association, 115th Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, August 12, 2022.

Presenter, “Indigenous Santa Cruz: A Conversation with Dr. Martin Rizzo-Martinez,” 25th Amah Mutsun Speaker Series event, Santa Cruz, California, May 14, 2022.

Presenter, “We are not Animals: the Justiniano Roxas Story,” Santa Cruz Museum of Art &
History, Santa Cruz, California, March 12, 2022.

Presenter, “We are not Animals book launch talk,” Santa Clara University’s Archives & Special Collections presents, Santa Clara University, February 23, 2022.

Presenter, “Identifying the California Missions as Sites of Conscience,” at the “Critical Mission Studies: From Truth Telling to Healing,” Southern California Critical Mission Studies Conference, Saturday, November 13, 2021, in San Diego.

Organizer & Presenter, “Telling and Teaching the Truth of the California Missions,” Northern California Critical Mission Studies Conference, August 27, 2021, at Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park. Co-Presented opening discussion, “Uncovering Difficult Histories at Santa Cruz Mission,” with Valentin Lopez (Amah Mutsun Tribal Chair).

Roundtable Participant, “Transforming the Teaching of the California Missions: Essential
Collaborations to Teach from an Indigenous Perspective,” in Teaching History Conference: Challenges in Teaching and Learning History: Issues of Pedagogy & Content at UC Davis, May 7, 2021, on panel with Daisy Martin, Judith Scott, Valentin Lopez (Amah Mutsun Tribal Chair), Alexii Sigona, and Renya Ramirez.

“For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Mission Bell as a Symbol through the Ages,” 38th Annual
California Missions and Presidios Conference (virtual), February 13, 2021.

“Women and Power in Early Native North America,” Organization of American Historians
Annual Meeting, Virtual Conference on American History, April 15-18, 2021.

MEDIA APPEARANCES AND INTERVIEWS

Podcast panelist, “Challenging Colonial Imagery: Indigenous Centenarians and Gender in
California, The Gilded Age and Progressive Era podcast, April, 2026.

Interview feature, “The Californios of Santa Cruz: Land, Legacy, and Loss, a Conversation with Martin Rizzo-Martinez,” by Andrew O’Keefe, in Santa Cruz Vibes Magazine, Spring 2026.

Interview, “Wounded Lee: 50th Anniversary of Indigenous Resistance at Sacred Site in
6 Watsonville,” on Transformation Highway with John Malkin, KZSC, October 8, 2025.

Interview in “Uncovered History: Event honors 50th anniversary of local Indigenous resistance at a sacred site called ‘Wounded Lee’” by John Malkin, GoodTimes, October 7, 2025.

Interview feature, “Santa Cruz before the Mission: Indigenous Stories that Persist,” by Andrew O’Keefe, in Santa Cruz Vibes Magazine, Winter 2026.

Interview about We are not Animals, on “Talk of the Bay” with Len Beyea of KSQD, March 27, 2024.

Interview about We are not Animals: John Malkin of KZSC 88.1, We are not Animals: New Book Highlights Santa Cruz Indigenous Rebellion and Resistance, April 11, 2022.

Interview about We are not Animals: Annabel LaBrecque, New Books in Native American
Studies Podcast, March 9, 2022: https://newbooksnetwork.com/we-are-not-animals.

Interviewed about bell removal movement: Jerimiah Oetting of KAZU, “Why a local Indigenous leader wants to remove California’s highway bells,” December 21st, 2021.

Interviewee for podcast episode about CZU fires, responses, and Indigenous history, “What Fire Reveals: Stories from the CZU August Lightning Complex Fires,” The Kitchen Sisters Podcast, August 2021.