Faculty
Director, Ericka Verba (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) everba@calstatela.edu
Dr. Verba is Director and Professor of Latin American Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. She is currently researching the biography of Chilean folklorist, musician, artist, and “mother” of the new song movement, Violeta Parra (1917-1967). Her prior research activities and publications focused on the intersection of gender and class politics in Chile in the early twentieth century and includes the book Catholic Feminism and the Social Question in Chile, 1910-1917 (2003). She has received grants from the National Endowment from the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Fulbright, and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and was the recipient of the E. Bradford Burns Award for service to the Pacific Coast Council on Latin America Studies (2007). She was previously a member of the History Department at California State University, Dominguez Hills (2004-2015). She is also an accomplished musician and was a founding member of the Los Angeles-based new song groups Sabiá and Desborde.
Enrique C. Ochoa (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) eochoa3@calstatela.edu
Dr. Ochoa is a Professor of Latin American Studies and History at California State University, Los Angeles. From 2013-2014 he was the President's Distinguished Professor at CSULA, and from 2006 to 2008, the Michi and Walter Weglyn Endowed Chair of Multicultural Studies at Cal Poly Pomona. He has edited over a dozen books and journals including Feeding Mexico: The Political Uses of Food Since 1910 (2000); Latina(o) Los Angeles: Migrations, Communities and Political Activism (co-editor, 2005); History and Critical Pedagogies: Transforming Consciousness, Classrooms, and Communities, a special issue of Radical History Review (co-editor, 2008); and "Reframing Immigration in the Americas," a special issue of Dialogo: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Latina(o) Studies (co-editor, 2015). He has published several articles on Mexican politics and history, food studies, Latina(o) studies, and critical community-based education. Dr. Ochoa works to link his classes and research to social justice movements to draw on the rich experiences of students and Los Angeles communities. He is a past board member of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Historians Against the War, Latin American Perspectives, and Radical History Review. He is a founder of the Latina/o History Bee and is currently working with local school districts to implement an intersectional ethnic studies curriculum for K-12 classes.
Gabriela Fried-Amilivia (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) gfrieda@exchange.calstatela.edu
Gabriela Fried Amilivia (Ph.D. Sociology, UCLA, 2004; M.A. Clinical Sociology, Université de Paris VII-Jussieu, 1993; Licenciada en Psicología, Universidad de la República, Montevideo) is Associate Professor of Sociology at California State University Los Angeles. She has been a Fulbright and Organization of American States doctoral fellow and a United States Institute of Peace Junior scholar, as well as the recipient of Mellon Fellowship for Latin American Sociology. She specializes in social memory, trauma and generations after the Southern Cone post-authoritarian transitions. She has published on social memory and violence, Uruguayan politics of oblivion, and the long-term effects of impunity and the struggle for accountability, and intergenerational transmission work. She is the co-editor of Luchas Contra la Impunidad: Uruguay 1985-2011 (Montevideo: Trilce, 2011) with Francesca Lessa, and “Civil Society and the Resurgent Struggle against Impunity in Uruguay” (IJTJ vol. 7, 306-327, 2013) with Jo-Marie Burt and Francesca Lessa. Her recent article, entitled Sealing” and “Un-sealing” Uruguay’s Transitional Politics of Oblivion: Waves of Memory and the Winding Road to Memory and Justice (1985-2015),” is forthcoming in Latin American Perspectives (forth. 2016). Her book State Terrorism and the Politics of Memory in Latin America: Transmissions across the Generations of Post-Dictatorship Uruguay (1984-2004) will be published by Cambria Press (New York, forthcoming, May 2016).
Associated Faculty
Emily Acevedo (Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University) eaceved3@calstatela.edu
Department of Political Science
Latin American politics; political and economic development in Latin America; U.S. foreign policy in Latin America; Model United Nations Program
Raquel Ackerman (Ph.D., Cambridge University) rackerm@calstatela.edu
Department of Anthropology
Andes; religion; symbolism; social organization; sociolinguistics; political rhetoric; identity and ethnicity; Quechua
Jose Manuel Aguilar-Moreno (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) maguila2@calstatela.edu
Department of Art
Pre-Colombian art and history (Maya and Aztec); colonial art of Mexico; Indian-Christian transculturation; tequitqui art
Gastón Alzate (Ph.D., Arizona State University) galzate@calstatela.edu
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Mexican and Colombian literature with focus on theater and performance art; Latin American films and popular culture; political and sexual dissidence in contemporary Mexico
Beth Baker (Ph.D., University of New Mexico) bbakerc@calstatela.edu
Department of Anthropology
Latin America with an emphasis on Central America and Mexico; international migration and transnationalism; social movements; ethnicity and nationalism; the state; remittances and economic development; social theory; ethnography
Pablo Baler (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley) pbaler@exchange.calstatela.edu
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
20th-century Latin American culture, literature, visual arts
Enrique Berumen (M.F.A., University of Southern California, Los Angeles) eberume@calstatela.edu
Department of Television, Film and Media Studies
Latin American cinema; screenwriting
Cristina Bodinger-de Uriarte (Ph.D., Harvard University) cboding@exchange.calstatela.edu
Department of Sociology
U.S. Latin American relations; Latin America in the U.S. press
William Bollinger (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) lastudies2@gmail.com
Latin American Studies program
Caribbean; Central America; Peru; labor studies; U.S.-Latin America relations; comparative history of race relations
James Brady (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) jbrady@calstatela.edu
Department of Anthropology
Archeological method and theory; Maya ideology; Maya cave archeology; ceramic analysis
Mario Castaneda (Ed.D., Pepperdine University) mcastan7@exchange.calstatela.edu
Division of Curriculum and Instruction, Charter College of Education
Social and educational success of the Central American community; African legacy of Central America; issues of inter-group
relations between ethnic minority groups; museum outreach programs for the Latino community
Paul de Castro (D.M.A., University of Texas at Austin) pdecast@calstatela.edu
Department of Music
Afro Latin music; Latin American folk and popular music; piano and corneta china performance
Ramon A. Castillo-Ponce (Ph.D., University of California, Irvine) rcastil@exchange.calstatela.edu
Department of Economics and Statistics
Latin American economies
Katie Dingeman (Ph.D. University of California, Irvine) mdingem@calstatela.edu
Department of Sociology
Unauthorized migration, citizenship & belonging; detention & deportation; Central America
María Dolores Costa (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts) mcosta@calstatela.edu
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
18th-, 19th-, 20th-century narrative
Louis Esparza (Ph.D., Stony Brook University) louis.esparza5@calstatela.edu
Department of Sociology and Latin American Studies
Political sociology, social movements, Latin America
Dionne Espinoza (Ph.D. Cornell University) despino@calstatela.edu
Departments of Chicano(a) and Latino(a) Studies, Liberal Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Chicano(a) and Latino(a) studies; women’s movements and feminisms; cultural and critical theory
Eileen Ford (Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) eford@exchange.calstatela.edu
Department of History
Intersection of culture and politics in post-revolutionary Mexico; child population and policies in Mexico; state formation and popular culture in modern Latin America
Jennifer Garrison (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) jgarris@calstatela.edu
Department of Geology
Recent volcanic activity and volcanic hazards in El Salvador and Nicaragua
Ester E. Hernández (Ph.D. University of California, Irvine) eherna17@calstatela.edu
Department of Chicano(a) and Latino(a) Studies
Latinos in the U.S.; community health; gender; immigration and globalization
Barry Hibbs (Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin) bhibbs@calstatela.edu
Department of Geology
Hydrology and environmental issues; U.S.-Mexico border
Rita Ledesma (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) rledesm@calstatela.edu
Department of Social Work
Bicultural practice issues; child- and family-focused practice and policy; qualitative research; research and practice in Latino and American Indian communities
Kittiya Lee (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University) klee40@exchange.calstatela.edu
Department of History
Group identities in Colonial Latin America; Brazil
Alejandra Marchevsky (Ph.D., University of Michigan) amarche@exchange.calstatela.edu
Department of Liberal Studies
Gender, sexuality and migration; immigration policy; neoliberalism, labor, and the welfare state in the U.S. and Latin America
Paola Marin (Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Twin Cities) pmarin@exchange.calstatela.edu
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Colonial Latin America, mainly Mexico; contemporary Latin American theater and poetry
John J. Ramirez (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) jramire4@calstatela.edu
Department of Television, Film and Media Studies
Latin American film; documentary theory and history; queer theory and gender studies; media literacy
Michael Soldatenko (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) msoldat@calstatela.edu
Department of Chicano(a) and Latino(a) Studies
Chicano(a)/Latino(a) intellectual history; Chicano(a) student politics
Alejandro Solomianski (Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh) asolomi@calstatela.edu
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Latin American literature
Aaron Huey Sonnenschein (Ph.D., University of Southern California) asonnen@calstatela.edu
Department of English
Documentation and revitalization of the indigenous language of Mexico
Valerie Talavera-Bustillos (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) vtalave@calstatela.edu
Department of Chicano Studies
Education; Chicano/Chicana studies
Molly Talcott (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara) mtalcot@calstatela.edu
Department of Sociology
Social inequality and change; globalization studies; human rights
Carlos Tejeda (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) ctejeda3@calstatela.edu
Division of Educational Foundations and Interdivisional Studies, Charter College of Education
Decolonizing pedagogies; critical educational theory; sociology of education
Angela Vergara (Ph.D., University of California, San Diego) avergar@exchange.calstatela.edu
Department of History
Modern Latin America; Chilean history; labor studies
Alejandro Villalpando (M.A., California State University, Los Angeles) avill030@ucr.edu
Latin American Studies
Central American studies; Central American diaspora; racism and state violence; neoliberalism; immigration, U.S. Militarism and imperialism
Marlene Zepeda (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles) mzepeda@exchange.calstatela.edu
Department of Child and Family Studies
Mother-infant behavior in Mexican immigrant and Mexican American families; development of cultural competency in preschool teachers
Emeritus Faculty
Donald Bray (Ph.D., Stanford University)
U.S.-Latin American relations; Cuba; Chile; Central America
email: DonaldWBray@aol.com
Marjorie Bray (Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School)
International economic relations; Cuba; Central America; film
email: DonaldWBray@aol.com
Timothy Harding (Ph.D., Stanford University)
Department of History
Latin America, Brazil, Cuba
John Kirchner (Ph.D., University of Chicago)
South America; transportation; tropical agriculture
email: jkirchn@calstatela.edu