Though she is a new faculty member, Dorothy Santos is well acquainted with the University of California, Santa Cruz campus; she earned her Ph.D. here in June of 2023. She spent the past year as a visiting professor for the Everett Program and is now an assistant professor in both art and the newly formed degree program, Creative Technologies.
Originally from San Francisco, Santos has stayed close to her home her entire life. She grew up in a multilingual household with her Filipino parents who spoke Tagalog to her, but made her respond in English. Her family was also close to their next door neighbor who was from Costa Rica, and taught Santos Spanish. “I learned how to speak English and Spanish fluently, but I had a Tagalog accent,” says Santos.
This upbringing formed an early interest in sound as well as accent bias, which Santos would continue to explore throughout her career. “I’m really interested in the types of relationships that technology dictates including our behavior and how we communicate with one another whether it’s text or it’s voice.”
Santos went on to receive her M.A. in Visual and Cultural Studies from California College of the Arts, which eventually helped lead her to UC Santa Cruz. “I wanted to work with Professor Soraya Murray, she was my external committee member when I was working on my Master’s,” says Santos. “We maintained this mentor mentee relationship, and over the years she’s been so supportive and very much an advocate for my work.”
Along with her schooling, Santos’ research work has been shown in places including Fort Mason Center for the Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the LGBT Historical Society. Her writing has appeared in Ars Technica, Slate, and Vice amongst other publications.
A large portion of Santos’ work is centered on emergency response systems and infrastructure. She recently received a fellowship from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). “It’s allowing me to actually expand upon my dissertation research,” says Santos. “I’m making artwork and doing ethnographic work that’s specific to emergency infrastructures in different cities.” She recalls crying when she got the call that she’d received the fellowship, given there were only eight spots and over 700 applicants.
When she’s not busy with her research, Santos hosts a podcast called Five at Nine: Tarot, Work and Economic Justice. “A lot of it is centered around cartomancy, but in particular tarot. I’ve been reading tarot since I was a teenager,” says Santos. She also loves hanging out with her cat, Noel, and taking long walks.
Starting this year by doing cross-disciplinary work from different departments, Santos is embracing an expansive form of research and study. She will be embracing diversity and a diverse body of research here at UC Santa Cruz.