Explosivity: Following What Remains, photographs by Andrea Gaffney, University of Minnesota Press, 2025.
Latest book coverage (see more in Work):
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- New Books Network interview.
- Environment and Planning D: Society and Space book forum (TOC) & my response.
- Reviewed in the Journal of Disaster Studies by Barbara Lounder.
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Ongoing:
UC Davis Humanities Institute Collaborative Research Fellowship for Monumental Disappearance with Rafael Capó-García (Memoria (De)colonial, Puerto Rico). | Episodio de Sur-Urbano: Descolonización del patrimonio (en español).
“Smells like San Francisco: Vapors and Volatility in the City of Explosivity,” (ongoing) detour co-organized w/ Professor Adam Levy, Ohlone College and the Smell and Destroy (SAD) Collective. More events in planning stages.
Work-in-progress chapter for Demilitarization in Theory and Practice: An International Workshop, Fall 2026., convened by Crystal Mun-hye Baik and Anjali Nath, with the University of Michigan Press for a forthcoming collection of essays.
“Particulate Matters” forum contribution, convened by Desiree Valadares for Environment and Planning D: Society and Space.
Also published…
(with Julie Sze) “Watefront/battlefront: Vallejo’s Black landscapes of resistance against police and environmental violence”. I give a short encapsulation of this chapter for the Routledge Architecture, Urban Space & Politics channel: here. | Podcast interview w/ Vallejo Sun.
Plus, I wrote a small feature on UC Davis memorials in the first issue of the San Francisco Review of Whatever.
Communication
✉︎ Email: jarbona [at] ucdavis [dot] edu *available for video or voice calls by appointment. I have Signal. Se habla español.
Advising
American Studies undergraduate majors: Please reach out if you’d like to schedule an appointment or contact me first with a preliminary draft of your emphasis plan.
Office hours
Wednesdays noon-1pm online
Fridays noon-1pm in-person
Contact me for details.
I’m usually available for video or in-person appointments (by request).
Inquiries
Public or media inquiries, collaboration opportunities, or grad/post-grad research interest: please kindly email me (see above). I can also provide an encrypted Signal link. Thank you!
Pronouns & Pronunciation
he/him/his
My name is in Spanish. Similar to “Xavier” in the anglophone pronunciation, it is pronounced with an audible ‘R’ at the end: Javier. To Italians, I’m “Saverio” (I studied for a period in Italy). I use Arbona or Arbona-Homar (the H is completely silent and pronounced “Omar” with emphasis on the last syllable, like this: omár). I don’t have a middle name. Arbona is my paternal last name, therefore I’m not “Javier Homar” nor “Professor Homar.” Professor Arbona is fine with me.