Dr. Amy Lucinda Brandzel Death — Associate professor of American and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at The University of New Mexico Dr. Amy Lucinda Brandzel passed away on May 2, 2023 at her home in the company of her family and beloved pets. (Brandzel’s preferred pronouns in their professional life are they/them; we follow suit below.) Nearly 15 years ago, Brandzel was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, yet she has never once let the disease defeat her. They maintained an ever-positive outlook and never gave up hope of victory. Brandzel was a pioneering academic who studied how race, gender, and sexuality interact with one another.
As a queer theorist, their primary identity, they were hired at UNM to study gender and sexuality. They openly included queer and feminist and postcolonial and critical Indigenous and critical race theories of subject-formations, institutional power, and coalitional resistance for marginalized and rejected populations into their classrooms and research projects. They focused on the role of hegemonic epistemologies and normative identities in the fields of law, citizenship, culture, and academia by conducting rhetorical, historical, cultural, and discourse analyses of legal cases, popular culture, and scholarly work.
They have recently taken an interest in disability studies, and their students have responded by forming the UNM chapter of CRIP Liberation. Her classes were well-liked by her students, and in 2017 the UNM Alumni Association awarded her with the Faculty Teaching Award for her efforts. Brandzel had a distinct personality and was appreciated by everybody who knew him because of his authenticity and honesty. Despite inheriting many qualities from their parents and grandparents, this individual was completely unique.
They shared an appreciation for music and sarcasm with their brother Mike, as well as a love of reading, writing, and research that came from their father, Tom; a passion for helping the voiceless that came from their mother, Kathy; a strong and bold voice that would not tolerate ignorance; and a passion for the outdoors, gardening, and entertaining that came from their grandfather, Dorothy “Honey.” Brandzel was able to create close, devoted relationships with those closest to him. Both Minnesota and California, where they had spent significant portions of their childhoods, retained a special place in their hearts.
Brandzel enjoyed deep discussions, in which his generous and always optimistic nature could shine through. They were especially good with kids, such their nieces and nephews or the kids of coworkers, and animals. Brandzel received his undergraduate degree in History from UC Santa Cruz and his graduate degree in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University. They were one of the first students in the University of Minnesota’s Ph.D. program in Feminist Studies, and they received their degree in that field.
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