Bernardo R. Vargas
Bernardo R. Vargas (he/him) is a philosopher, educator, and interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersections of environmental justice, race, and Latinx studies.
As a researcher, Bernardo explores how Latinx, Mexican American, and Indigenous communities confront environmental racism, labor exploitation, and climate injustice. Grounded in critical philosophy of race and decolonial thought, his work draws on historical and ethnographic research to examine how oppressed communities resist domination and build alternative ways of living. His writing often centers on food, land, and labor as points of inquiry—especially how these domains reveal the ongoing impact of coloniality and racial capitalism.
Bernardo’s published and forthcoming works include “¡Vente a un Barbecue!: Grilling at Parks as a Form of Joy, World-Making, and Outdoor Engagement,” Special Theme: Latinx Recreation, Diálogo: An Interdisciplinary Studies Journal, Ed. Priscilla Ybarra, David Vazque, Sarah Wald, (Forthcoming Sept. 2025). This essay explores el Barbecue at public parks as a cultural practice of world-making that reimagines outdoor recreation through joy, ease, and al aire libre. Drawing on Maria Lugones and Kristie Soares, it argues that el Barbecue challenges dominant, sport-centric notions of recreation by creating playful, resistant spaces for Mexican American expression. Ultimately, the essay shows how this tradition reshapes public space and offers a more inclusive vision of outdoor life.
A forthcoming co-authored chapter by Ariadna Reyes-Sánchez and Bernardo R. Vargas, “Coping Strategies of Low-income Black and Latinxs in a Freedom Colony,” will appear in Insurgent Urbanisms in the Americas, edited by Kristine Stiphany and Edna Ely-Ledesma (Routledge Press, forthcoming Fall 2025). The chapter focuses on community coping strategies in a Texas Freedom Colony experiencing environmental and infrastructural precarity. This work emerges from the Crossing Latinidades Mellon Humanities Fellowship and includes collaboration with faculty from Hispanic-Serving Research Universities such as Teresa Córdova (UIC), Michael Méndez (UCI), and Ariadna Reyes (UT Arlington). The broader research investigates how Latinx communities in Chicago, Los Angeles, and the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex adapt to and resist extreme climate events. Bernardo’s contributions address environmental racism, undocumented migration, and climate resilience in informal urban spaces. Key takeaways and digital archives are on the project’s website: https://eiucc-project.uta.edu/In a chapter in
Food Fight: How What We Eat is Weaponized, ed. Miguel A. De La Torre, in “When Eating Fruits and Vegetables Hurts: Viewing Mexican, Latinx, and Indigenous Farm Labor as Racial Extractivism,” discusses how farmworkers' labor is best understood as racialized labor extraction (racial extractivism) in the context of Mexican, Latinx, and Indigenous farm labor.
Bernardo believes deeply in collaborative learning and draws inspiration from the communities he studies and teaches alongside. He is a Ph.D. Candidate in Philosophy and a Teaching Fellow at the University of North Texas.