Biography

Reno Garcia is a first generation transgender (she/her/her) Oaxacan scholar from the San Joaquin Central Valley whose work focuses on Oaxacan migrants in California and their access to Indigenous centered health care. Reno’s collaborative research is grounded in her embodied knowledge as the child of migrant Mixtec Oaxacan farmworkers and centers the use of non-traditional methodologies such as platicas and testimonios to engage Oaxacan elders in conversations surrounding well-being and traditional medicine. Before the PhD, Reno attended community college and later transferred to UCLA. At UCLA, she received her Bachelors in Sociology and conducted research through the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program surrounding Oaxacan Farmworkers and mental health care. Reno’s recent research as a graduate student focuses on Mixtec transnational plant medicine and is invested in increasing access to Indigenous centered health care resources in California’s San Joaquin Central Valley that are grounded in Indigenous frameworks, practices, and notions of well-being.