Latin American and Latino Studies
32 Merrill College
(831) 459-4284
http://lals.ucsc.edu
Program Description | Course Descriptions
Faculty and Professional Interests
Core Faculty
Gabriela Arredondo, Associate Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies
Latina/o studies; Chicana/o history; U.S. immigration histories; U.S. social and cultural history; critical race and ethnicity theories; Chicana and Mexicana feminisms; “borderlands” studies; history of modern Mexico
John G. Borrego, Professor Emeritus of Latin American and Latino Studies
Sylvanna Falcón, Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies
Human rights, racism/antiracism, globalization, gender, transnational feminism, Latin America (Mexico, Peru), United States
Jonathan Fox, Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies
Latin American and Latino politics, including issues of democratization, accountability, social movements, transnational civil society, social and environmental policy, and immigration
Rosa-Linda Fregoso, Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies
Human-rights, feminicide, and violence studies; critical and cultural theories; decolonial and intercultural feminist studies; media and visual studies
Shannon Gleeson, Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies
Migrant populations, the effects of documentation status, labor rights, civic engagement, inequality and stratification, political sociology, law and society, mixed methods and comparative approaches
Walter L. Goldfrank, Professor Emeritus of Latin American and Latino Studies and Sociology
Flora Lu, Associate Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies
Ecological anthropology, human behavioral ecology, Amazon rainforest, indigenous peoples, conservation, Ecuador, culture change, market integration, indigenous resource management, political ecology, environmental justice
Hector Perla, Jr., Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies
International relations; Latin American studies; Latino politics; political psychology; Central America; U.S. foreign policy; social and revolutionary movements; asymmetric conflicts
Catherine Ramirez, Associate Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies
United States cultural history, with a focus on immigration; theories of assimilation and citizenship; 20th-century Mexican-American history; Latino literature; comparative ethnic studies; feminist and gender studies; cultural studies
Cecilia M. Rivas, Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies
Salvadoran transnationalism; media (Internet, newspapers); migration; globalization; race, ethnicity, and gender; bilingualism; consumption; El Salvador; Central America
Patricia Zavella, Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies
Transnational migration by Mexicans, poverty, family, sexuality, labor, social networks, feminist studies, Chicana/o-Latina/o studies, ethnographic research methods
Participating Faculty
Mark D. Anderson, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Racial formation, diaspora, nationalism, transnationalism, indigeneity, consumption, Central America, Honduras, Latin America, African diaspora
Jeffrey T. Bury, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Political ecology; sustainable development; Latin American studies; international relations; institutional dimensions of natural resource conservation in the global south
Pedro G. Castillo, Associate Professor of History
Chicano/a history and culture; American social and urban history; race, class, and gender in California history, immigration history, Latina/os in the U.S.
Cynthia Cruz, Assistant Professor of Education
Street ethnography; community-based learning and pedagogies; decolonial feminist pedagogies; Chicana studies and epistemologies; U.S.-Third World Feminisms; cultural studies and education
Kent H. Eaton, Professor of Politics
Comparative politics, international relations, political economy, public policy, territorial conflict, federalism, decentralization, party and electoral systems, Latin America, the Philippines
Lisbeth Haas, Professor of History
U.S.-Mexico borderlands, Chicano and Native American history; visual culture in the colonial Americas; the U.S. West and California; historical memory, theory, and historical methodology
Norma Klahn, Professor of Literature
Latin American literary and cultural studies (specialization: Mexico), Chicano/Latino literature and culture from a cross-border perspective, modernity/postmodernity, poetics and politics, genre theory (novel, poetry, autobiography), contemporary critical theories (i.e., border, ethnic, feminist, transnational/global)
Lourdes Martínez-Echazábal, Associate Professor of Latin American Literature
Latin American and Caribbean literatures; Afro-Latin American literatures, cultures, and societies; found[n]ational narratives; Brazilian literature; literatures of Cuba and the Cuban diaspora; critical race theory
Eduardo Mosqueda, Assistant Professor of Education
Mathematics education of English learners; large-scale dataset quantitative analysis; urban education issues
Olga Nájera-Ramírez, Professor of Anthropology
Folklore theory, ritual, festival, dance, greater Mexican culture, history and folklore, transnationalism, identity; expressive culture, ethnomusicology, bilingual communication, gender, history, and culture of Latin America, the U.S., and Mexico
Marcia Ochoa, Assistant Professor of Community Studies
Gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, Latina/o studies, media and cultural studies, ethnography of media, feminism, queer theory, multimedia production, Latin American studies—Colombia and Venezuela, political philosophy, geography
Juan Poblete, Associate Professor of Literature
Latin(o) American literatures; transnational/global cultures (literature, radio, film); Latin(o) American cultural studies; 19th-century studies; the history of reading practices
Renya K. Ramirez, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Native American studies, Indian identity, Native Americans and anthropology, urban Indians, Native American women, cultural citizenship, expressive culture, and anti-racist education
B. Ruby Rich, Professor of Community Studies
Documentary film and video, post-9/11 culture, new queer cinema, feminist film history, Latin American and Latin/a cinema, U.S. independent film and video, the essay film, the politics of film festival proliferation and the marketing of foreign films in the U.S.
Barbara Rogoff, Professor of Psychology
Human development in sociocultural activity; informal and formal arrangements for learning; adult/child and peer communication in families and schools in diverse cultural communities (especially in Guatemala, Mexico, and the U.S.); learning through observation and collaboration
Felicity Schaeffer-Grabiel, Assistant Professor of Feminist Studies
Transnational feminism, migration, Latin American/Latino studies, Chicana/o studies, Internet, technology and the body, sexuality, gender and globalization
Helen Shapiro, Associate Professor of Sociology
Political economy, Latin American economic history and development (with an emphasis on Brazil), industrial policy, the auto industry, the state and transnational corporations
Affiliated Faculty
Jorge Aladro Font, Professor of Spanish Literature
Spanish mysticism, theory and historical developments of imagery in the Middle Ages to the baroque period, Renaissance and baroque Hispanic literature, Italian ideas in the Spanish Renaissance, Cervantes
Chelsea Blackmore, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Pre-Columbian archaeology (Mesoamerican focus), identity formation, complex societies, class and state formation, gender, feminist/queer theory
Carolyn Dean. Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture
Cultural histories of the native Americas and colonial Latin America
Maria Elena Diaz, Associate Professor of History
Atlantic world, Colonial Latin America and the Caribbean, Cuba; social and cultural, global and local histories; colonialism, slavery and freedom, race/ethnicity, gender and class; legal, political, popular, and religious culture
Robert W. Fairlie, Associate Professor of Economics
Labor economics, public policy, entrepreneurship, applied econometrics
Dana Frank, Professor of History
U.S. social and economic history; women, labor, and working-class history; contemporary political economy; modern Central America
Gregory S. Gilbert, Professor of Environmental Studies
Tropical ecology and conservation, disease ecology
María Victoria González-Pagani, Lecturer in Spanish Language
Language teaching methodology; Spanish syntax; computer-assisted foreign language learning; Latin American cultural studies, especially women's contributions
Shelly Grabe, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Sexual objectification of women and women’s bodies as a pervasive global phenomenon played out in different ways across different cultures; how “embodied oppression” affects women’s psychological well-being and empowerment
Miriam Greenberg, Associate Professor of Sociology
Media studies, cultural studies, globalization, political and cultural economies of global cities, video production, and ethnography
Kirsten Silva Gruesz, Professor of Literature
Chicano/Latino literatures and cultures, Comparative Americas studies, language ideologies and bilingualism in literature
Daniel Guevara, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Kant, moral philosophy, moral psychology, environmental ethics, history of modern philosophy
Craig Haney, Professor of Psychology
Applications of social psychological principles to legal settings, assessment of the psychological effects of living and working in institutional environments, social contextual origins of violence, development of alternative legal and institutional forms
Karen D. Holl, Pepper-Giberson Professor, Environmental Studies
Restoration ecology, conservation biology, landscape ecology
Regina D. Langhout, Associate Professor of Psychology
School-community-university collaboration; how schooling and neighborhood experiences are informed by social class, race, and gender; participatory action research
John Leaños, Assistant Professor of Social Documentation
Social documentation, social art practice, community arts, documentary animation, Chicana/o art practice and cultural studies, media and cultural studies, subaltern studies, photography, installation art, public art and intervention
Deborah Letourneau, Professor of Environmental Studies
Agroecology, tropical biology, insect-plant interactions, biological control as an alternative to chemical pesticides
Daniel T. Linger, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology
Self and identity, politics, cultural theory, cities, violence, transnational experience, Brazil, Japan
Paul M. Lubeck, Professor of Sociology
Political sociology; political economy of development, globalization, labor and work; logics of methodology; religion and social movements; Islamic society and identities; information and networks
Andrew Salvador Mathews, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Environmental anthropology, science and technology studies, conservation and development
Judit Moschkovich, Professor of Mathematics Education
Mathematics cognition and learning; student conceptions of linear functions; discourse in mathematics and science classrooms; everyday mathematical practices; and bilingual mathematics learners
Matthew D. O’Hara, Assistant Professor of History
Modern Latin America and Mexico; late colonial Latin America; religion, spirituality, and ritual; urban history; race, ethnicity, and identity; political culture
Lucinda Pease-Alvarez, Associate Professor of Education
Language and literacy development, language-minority education, bilingualism, informal learning
Jennifer Poole, Assistant Professor of Economics
International trade, Latin American economics, applied microeconomics
Daniela Sandler, Assistant Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture
Modern and contemporary architecture and urbanism; visual and cultural studies; social inequality in space; architectural preservation; history and memory in the built environment; architecture and visual culture in Latin America and Europe, with foci on Brazil and Germany
Ana Maria. Seara, Lecturer, Portuguese Language
Portuguese language; literature, film, and music of Brazil and the Portuguese-speaking world; acquisition and teaching of foreign, second, and heritage languages
Dana Y. Takagi, Professor of Sociology
Social inequality and identity, research methods, race relations, nationalism and social movements
Kip Telléz, Associate Professor of Education
Preparation of teachers for linguistic and cultural diversity, second language learning, studies of the school curriculum, educational assessment
Gustavo Vazquez, Associate Professor of Film and Digital Media
Film and video production, directing drama, documentary and experimental cross-cultural experiences in film, film curator
Rasmus Winther, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Philosophy of science, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of biology, American pragmatism, Latin American philosophy, evolutionary theory
Thomas Wu, Assistant Professor of Economics
International finance, macroeconomics, Brazilian macroeconomic policy
Karen Tei Yamashita, Associate Professor of Literature(Creative Writing)
History and anthropology of Japanese immigration to Brazil, Asian American literature, modern fiction, playwriting
Revised: 8/13/12
