Chaando (hello),

My name is Elybeth Sofia Alcantar, pronouns she/they. My community of origin is the Indigenous Mixteco (Ñuu Savi) municipality of Yucu Nduchi in Oaxaca, Mexico. I was born and raised in unceded Kumeyaay and Payómkawichum territory, now known as San Diego, California. 

I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas at Austin. I am an Indigenous and feminist geographer studying climate risk and adaptation planning, environmental justice, natural resource management, poltical ecology, and social movements for territorial rights in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca, Mexico. I have also collaborated and conducted research in Santiago, Chile; Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana; Waiʻanae, Hawai‘i; and Bogotá, Colombia. 

In 2025, from January-August, I held the Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Abroad Award. I lived in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca, Mexico for 8 months carrying out dissertation fieldwork. During this research I collaborated with the Commission of Natural Resource Management & Communal Land (Bienes Comunales) and community-based reforestation collectives of various Mixteco (Ñuu Savi) municipalities. I was on the organizing committee for the “1er Encuentro de Geografía y Ecología desde el Pensamiento de la Mixteca Alta 2025.”

I attained my M.A. Latin American Studies, with focuses on Anthropology and Geography, in 2021 from San Diego State University. In 2019, I received my B.A. Latin American Studies, with minors in Geography and Spanish, from California State University, Chico. 

I share my life with an 8 yr old cattle dog named Chicharo (green pea). My hobbies include biking, running, camping, swimming, paddle-boarding, hiking, and bird-watching. In early June I ran the Trail de La Mixteca Oaxaqueña in San Mateo Tlapiltepec, Oaxaca. While I enjoy the outdoors, I am also a member and collaborator with various social justice and community-based organizations for Indigenous Oaxaqueño/a/e and immigrant peoples, such as the Jardin Mixteco community garden project in Linda Vista. 

Throughout this site you will find my research, publications, photography, and CV. Please do not hesitate to contact me for future collaborations, interviews, guest lectures, or other material.