She/Her, Anthropologist, Writer
Rooted in Ilocos
Currently in Woodridge, New Jersey

Kate Gonzales is a writer currently based in New Jersey, thanks to post-grad aimlessness. She grew up in NYC and attended Bard College where she studied anthropology, focusing on state studies and nationalism. Kate's work is curious about how state structures are folded into everyday life, about the closeness of waste and excess, and imagining alternate futures. Her thesis Part and Parcel: State Dreams and the Excesses of Home in the Pilipinx Balikbayan Box explored the balikbayan box as an expression of long-distance migrant nationalism that is simultaneously embedded in U.S. consumerism and critical of it, valuing the excesses of home rather than its expensive contents. The project incorporated memories from her Filipino childhood as footnotes, foisting personal position and upbringing as worthy of academic reference. While most of her writing is academic, she has recently begun exploring short fiction, and she also passes the time as a cellist, jazz singer, actress, and dancer. Kate has also read her work for the Whitney Biennial's celebration of Stonewall 50 and organizes locally with GABRIELA NJ.

FAVORITE FILIPINO FOOD: LONGSILOG