Melissa Hidalgo
Dr. Melissa M. Hidalgo earned her B.A. in English at UC Berkeley and M.A. in English at the University of Chicago. She began her university teaching career in 1997 at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she taught composition for three years before coming home to California to teach community college and high school English. In 2011, Hidalgo earned her Ph.D. in Literature at UC San Diego. She taught literature and cultural studies classes at UCLA, Pitzer College, UCSD, and CSU Fullerton before arriving in WGSS at CSU Long Beach, where she teaches classes in film, popular culture, and queer studies. Hidalgo has published numerous essays and articles across a range of academic and popular venues such as Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, Journal of Popular Music Studies, Journal of Lesbian Studies, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and L. A. Taco. Hidalgo is a Fulbright Scholar (University of Limerick, Ireland) and the author of Mozlandia: Morrissey Fans in the Borderlands (2016). Her current project explores Irish, Mexican, and Chicana/o historical and cultural connections from 1847 to the present. She is also working on an essay collection about butch life and pop culture.
Queer and Chicana/o/x-Latina/o/x literatures and cultural production; 19th-20th Century US, British, and Irish literatures; transnational cultural studies; borderland studies; popular music and popular culture; critical feminist, gender, queer, and race studies; cultural histories of food and beverage.
WGSS
356, Lesbian Histories and Cultures
365, Popular Culture: Seeing Sex and Gender
305, Queer and Feminist Arts and Cultures
316, Women in the History of US Film (CINE 317)
382, Women and Literature (ENGL 382)
216, Hollywood and Beyond: Gender, Race & Sex in the Movies
CHIC
119, Introduction to Racial and Ethnic Studies
330, Critical Issues in Chicana/Latina Studies
Book
Mozlandia: Morrissey Fans in the Borderlands (London: Headpress, 2016)
Scholarly Articles
“Teaching in the War Years: Notes on the Lesbian Class as (Butch) Labor of Love in 2024.” Journal of Lesbian Studies. 16 July 2025 (Online).
“Listening Again to Irish Echoes ‘from Erin to Aztlán’ in Alfred Arteaga’s Xicano Cantos.” Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies. Vol. 49, No. 2: Fall 2024.
Book review
A Kiss Across the Ocean: Transatlantic Intimacies of British Post-Punk and US Latinidad (Duke UP, 2022) by Richard T. Rodríguez. In Journal of Popular Music Studies, Vol. 36, No. 2 (2024).
“You’re Gonna Need Someone on Your Side: Morrissey’s Latino/a and Chicano/a Fans.” Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies. Vol. 12, No. 2: November 2015. Co-authored.
“‘He was a sissy, really:’ Queering Pocho by the Books.” Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies. Vol. 40, No. 1: Spring 2015.
Book Chapters
“A Chumash Line.” In Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California. Eds. Carribean Fragoza, et al. Los Angeles: Angel City Press, 2024.
“‘Ehhhhhh…pu!... what?’: A Critical Conversation about Mexican Football Fandom and the Word at the Center of a Homophobic Chant.” Football, Politics and Identity. Eds. James Carr, et al. London: Routledge, 2021. Co-authored.
“He Sings About Me: Morrissey as Protest Singer in Queer Latino Los Angeles.” In Songs of Social Protest: Protest, Media, and Culture. Eds. Aileen Dillane, et al. London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
“Expert Witness: Living in the Dirt.” In Reading and Writing Experimental Texts: Critical Innovations. Eds. Robin Silbergleid and Kristina Quynn. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
“Going Native on Wonder Woman’s Island”: The Exoticization of Lesbian Sexuality in Sex and the City.” In Televising Queer Women, 2nd edition. Ed. Rebecca Beirne, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. 1st ed. published 2007.
“Find the River.” In Dreams: 50 Years of Creativity, Culture and Community at the University of Limerick. Ed. Joseph O’Connor. Co. Kildare: Irish Academic Press. 2023.
Popular/Public-Facing Publications
“After the fires, my comadres and I are grieving for the place we knew as ‘Jotadena.’” Los Angeles Times/De Los 13 Feb 2025.
“Why Is Mexican Food So Popular in Ireland?” RTÉ Brainstorm, 10 Oct 2024. Co-authored.
“This couple is making ‘Pride wine’ in the Santa Ynez Valley to uplift the LGBTQ+ community.” Los Angeles Times, 28 June 2023.
“Brewing memories and a passion for beer with my Grandfather Miguel.” Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan 2023.
“Tacos on the Streets of Dublin: Tracking the Rise of Mexico’s Most Iconic Food in Ireland.” L.A. Taco, 17 Mar 2022.
“Like Queer Church on Sundays: Ozz Supper Club Gave Young LGBTQ a Place to Belong.” PBS SoCal, 19 Nov 2021.
“Gente from La Puente: Underground Punk Icon Kid Congo Powers Still Rocks.” PBS SoCal, 18 Feb 2021.
“What it Feels Like for a Butch: On barbershop pleasures.” Gay Magazine, 25 June 2019.
“You Look Like a Morrissey Fan.” New York Times Style Section, 25 Nov 2017.
