Research Assistant
Ph.D. Candidate in American Studies & Ethnicity, University of Southern California
Kathy Pulupa is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Southern California (USC), in the department of American Studies and Ethnicity (ASE). She is a first-generation Queer Latinx scholar whose community focused scholarship explores the social worlds of queer recreational soccer players across Los Angeles County. Her work more broadly enters the scholarly fields of Latinx, Queer, and Sports Studies. Kathy uses a multi-method approach to her scholarship through oral histories, ethnographic approaches, photographic storytelling, and ArcGIS mapping software to encompass the depth of her multi-faceted project. Her dissertation largely explores the transformation of what we consider Queer spaces and what the benefits of recreational sport/sporting participation are. In her project Queer spaces are moved from traditional gay bars and clubs to public spaces like recreational soccer fields during daytime hours. She makes an argument about the deep impact of recreational sports on identity formation for queer Latinx women. She published an article about the transformative nature of recreational sports titled “Nos Vemos en La Cancha” in the American Quarterly special issue The Body Issue: Sports and the Politics of Embodiment. She is committed to the community-oriented nature of her work and making sure her scholarship is public facing. Kathy was awarded the Emerging Scholars Award by the American Studies Association (ASA) Sports Studies Caucus (SSC) in 2024 and has been elected into her new role as the Graduate Student Chair for the SSC.