Dr. Itza Amanda Varela Huerta is a Research Professor in the Department of Education and Communication at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco Campus. From 2020 to 2023, she served as a research professor at the Center for Gender Studies at El Colegio de México. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences and a bachelor’s degree in Social Communication from UAM, Xochimilco Campus, as well as a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Her academic trajectory includes a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS)-Pacific South in Oaxaca City, from 2018 to 2020. She has taught at various institutions, including the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca (UABJO), CIESAS, El Colegio de México, and the Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México (UACM).

Before her academic career, she worked as a writer and reporter for the newspaper La Jornada (2005-2012) and as a communication strategist for human rights at the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center.

Her research focuses on various forms of racism, the political processes of Black-Afromexican communities, feminisms, cultural studies, and postcolonial critique. Currently, she is studying the relationship between audiovisual productions, gender, and racism in contemporary Mexico, with a particular emphasis on Mexican telenovelas and films created by Indigenous and Black-Afromexican women.