Dr. David Robles

Assistant Professor

Leasure Hall 103B
Office Hours: Fridays 930am-1230pm
(785) 532-5738
drobles@ksu.edu

AA Music 2005, South Texas College

BA Mexican American History 2008, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

MA History 2012, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

PhD Borderlands History 2018, University of Texas at El Paso

Dr. David Robles is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Transformation Studies and has been at Kansas State University since August 2018. Born and raised in the South Texas-Mexico borderland region known as the Rio Grande Valley, Dr. Robles is the son of Mexican immigrant parents and a first-generation college student. His main research focus is on Chicana/o activism in this region and the state of Texas. Trained as a Borderlands Historian, Dr. Robles also focuses his work and research on the history of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands and its communities. While at Kansas State, he has created and taught classes over various topics such as the Mexican American experience, Chicana/o struggles, U.S.-Mexico border, and Latina/o/x social struggles. When not teaching or researching, Dr. Robles enjoys reading classic sci-fi novels, playing video games, listening to paranormal podcasts, going to rock/punk shows, and playing his guitar.

Research Interests:
Chicana/o History and Activism, Borderlands History, Oral Histories, Texas History, Mexican American Culture and Folklore, Social Movement History/Theory, and Mexican History.

Select Publications:
“It Was Us against Us:” The Pharr Police Riot of 1971 and the People’s Uprising against El Jefe Político.” In Civil Rights in Black and Brown: Histories of Resistance and Struggle in Texas, edited by Max Krochmal and J. Todd Moye. (Fall 2021)

“Walking Out: The Media’s Report of the Edcouch-Elsa Student Walkouts of 1968,” The Journal of South Texas Vol. 27, No. 1 (Spring 2014)

Review of Mexican Waves: Radio Broadcasting Along Mexico’s Northern Border, 1930-1950 by Sonia Robles. Journal of American Ethnic History Vol. 40, No. 3 (Spring 2021)

Review of Rio: A Photographic Journey Down the Old Rio Grande, Edited by Melissa Savage. Journal of South Texas Vol. 31, No. 2 (Spring 2018)

Review of The Donkey Lady Fights La Llorona and Other Stories, by Xavier Garza. Journal of South Texas Vol. 30, No. 2 (Spring 2017)

Fellowships and Grants:

2021-2022 Arizona Historical Society Research Fellowship

Courses:

AMETH 160 Intro to American Ethnic Studies

AMETH 353A Latina/o Perspectives: Freedom Struggles

AMETH 353A Latina/o Perspectives: Race and Racism in Mexican America

AMETH 353ZA Latina/o Perspectives: Mexican America

AMETH 560ZA Topics in AMETH: Latina/o Social Struggles

AMETH 560ZA Topics in AMETH: U.S.-Mexico Border Crisis