Martin Rizzo-Martinez

Faculty Advisor, Indigenous Histories & Public Scholarship

Martin Rizzo-Martinez is an Assistant Professor in Film and Digital Media at UC Santa Cruz and a public historian whose research and media practice center Indigenous histories, voices, and perspectives in California. Working across historical research, audio, and video, his scholarship emphasizes Indigenous survival, persistence, and political agency, challenging colonial narratives that have traditionally centered missions and other colonial institutions. He is the author of We Are Not Animals: Indigenous Politics of Survival, Rebellion, and Reconstitution in Nineteenth-Century California.

For UC CAAN, Rizzo-Martinez brings expertise in Indigenous California histories, public scholarship, storytelling, and community-engaged media practices.