research overview
- Villanueva's research focuses on both ethnic studies and critical sports studies. The critical sports research examines nationhood, nationalism, and social justice. Ethnic studies research looks at race and nationalism, with an emphasis on Latinos in the United States. Villanueva examines the lynching of Mexicans in the Texas borderlands during the period from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, with particular interest in transnational perspectives on violence during the Mexican Revolution. The outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910 was an important event for both nations; it sparked a civil war among Mexicans, but it also led to hostilities between Anglos and Mexicans in the borderlands. Villanueva's current research examines the history of LGBTQ athletes in the sport of rodeo, and the formation of the International Gay Rodeo Association. Villanueva is currently writing an autoethnography on the International Gay Rodeo Association.