Javier Rivera is a PhD Candidate at USC Annenberg. His research interests include: US Latinx media and popular culture, embodiment and performance, aesthetics, and affect. His dissertation project tentatively titled "Ambivalent Attachments: The Cringeworthiness of US Latinidad and the Crisis of In/Coherence" considers the affective landscape of what makes objects of Latinx popular culture cringeworthy. From "no sabo" kids, to gentefication narratives, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the project considers how desires for coherence and the readings of the resulting performances as failures structure an embarrassment-by-proxy popularly known as "cringe."

He completed an MA in Mexican American and Latina/o studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to his MA, Rivera earned a BA in women's and gender studies and a BS in microbiology also from the University of Texas at Austin.