Gilda L. Ochoa

The author of multiple books, Gilda L. Ochoa writes and teaches on Chicanas/os-Latinas/os, education, and race/ethnicity. Her newest book In the Shadows of Los Angeles: Black and Chicana/o Suburban Activism focuses on activism in the East San Gabriel Valley during the 1960s and 1970s. Her book Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap was named as one of 35 books that all educators of African American and Latino students must read. It received awards from the Asian American Studies Association, the American Sociological Association, and the Society for the Study of Social Problem for its focus on race and eradicating racism. Ochoa’s earlier books include Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community, Learning from Latino Teachers, and Latina/o Los Angeles. Her work has also appeared in Rethinking Schools, Truthout, CounterPunch, Alternet, LA Progressive, and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Her poetry can be found at Latino Rebels.

With over 30 years of teaching in Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies, sociology, and women’s studies, Ochoa collaborates with K-university teachers on college-community projects. In the classroom, she strives for interactive and transformative learning spaces. She has received teaching awards from Pomona College and UCLA and was named the Susan Currier Visiting Professor for Teaching Excellence at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. She delivers keynote addresses and workshops on topics ranging from intersectional ethnic studies to critical pedagogy, education, and community-centered research. She has also been involved with local struggles, including the successful push for by-area trustee elections in the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District.

Books

In the Shadows of Los Angeles: Black and Chicana/o Suburban Activism (University of California Press, 2027).

Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap (University of Minnesota Press, 2013).

Learning from Latino Teachers (Jossey-Bass, 2007).

Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community: Power, Conflict, and Solidarity (University of Texas Press, 2004).

With E.C. Ochoa (eds.), Latino Los Angeles: Transformations, Communities and Activism (University of Arizona Press, 2005).

Special Journal Issue

E.C. Ochoa and G.L. Ochoa (co-editors). “Re-Rooting Intersectional Ethnic Studies: Racial Capitalism, Coloniality, and Resistance.” Ethnic Studies Pedagogies 3 (2), December 2025.

Ochoa, Gilda L., E.C. Ochoa, and S.G. Portillo (co-editors). “Reframing Immigration in the Américas,” Special Issue of Diálogo: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Center for Latino Research at De Paul University, fall 2015.

Selected Articles, Book Chapters, and Other Publications

Ochoa, E.C. and G.L. Ochoa. “Sewing the Threads of Nicaragua in the Casa de Nuestros ‘Litos in La Puente, California.” 1989 en Centroamérica/ 1989 in Central America. Eds. Aguilar Atunes, Villacorte, Ochoa and Seone. San José, CR: URUK Editores, 2025. 

“Activist Legacies: Connecting Current Struggles for K-12 Ethnic Studies to Local Histories, the Example of La Puente High School in the 1960s-1970s.” Ethnic Studies Pedagogies 2 (2), December 2024, pp. 34-51.

“Searching for My Mom, and the History of La Puente’s ‘Little Watts.’” Zócolo Public Square, August 15, 2024.

Enriquez, Laura E. and Gilda L. Ochoa. “On the Margins of Sociology and Grounded in Chicana/o Latina/o Studies: Cross-Generational Reflections on (Un)Disciplining.” Disciplinary Futures: Sociology in Conversation with American, Ethnic and Indigenous Studies, edited by N. Kim and P. Dhingra. New York University Press, 2023.

“Learning and Being in Community: A Latina Feminist Holistic Approach to Researching Where We Live.” International Journal of Research & Methods in Education 45, 3 (June 2022): 246-258.

“’A City of Puentes’: Latina/o Cross-Generational Memories and Organizing in the 2016-17 Struggle for Sanctuary.” Latinx Belonging: Community-Building and Resilience in the United States, edited by N. Deeb-Sossa and J. Bickham Mendez, University of Arizona Press, 2022, pp. 235-257.

de los Ríos, Cati V., Gilda L. Ochoa, Arturo Molina, and Brenda Gómez. “Fostering and Sustaining Relationality in Chicana/o/x Latina/o/x Studies: Reflections on Transgenerational Learning.” Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies 47, 2 (Winter 2022): 147-160.

With E. C. Ochoa. “Framing and Containing Ethnic Studies in Southern California Schools: Between Add-on, Power-Evasive Programs and Transformational Intersectional Ethnic Studies.” Race Frames in Education: Structuring Inequality and Opportunity in a Changing Society, edited by S. Rodriguez and G. Q. Conchas, Teacher College Press, 2022, pp. 111-131.

With E. C. Ochoa, M. Oropeza Fujimoto, S. Orozco, B. Coreas, J. Coreas, E. Oropeza Fujimoto, M. Maldonado, and V. N. Miranda Cordero. “’Hijacking a Public Process:’ The School District and Community Activists in the Battle for Trustee Area Representation.” Centering Youth, Parent, and Community in School Leadership, edited by K. C. Rodela and M. Bertrand. Routledge/Taylor Francis, 2022, pp. 174-193.

“The Interlocking Processes Constraining the Struggle for Sanctuary in the Trump Era: The Case of La Puente, CA.” Social Sciences 10 (5), April 2021.

With J. Coreas, B. Coreas, E. Fujimoto, E. C. Ochoa, M. Oropeza Fujimoto and S. Orozco, “¡Juntos Podemos! Community Organizing, the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) and the Struggle for School Transformation in a Southern California School District.” Journal of Latinos and Education November 2020.

“Ode to the Class of 2017: In the Midst of So Much Inequality,” Latino Rebels, May 24, 2017.

“Getting to the Foundations of Hate in Our School,” Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, November 15, 2016.

“Framing the ‘Gap’: Dominant Discourses of Achievement,” Gender Through the Prism of Difference, co-edited by M. Baca Zinn, P. Hondagneu-Sotelo, M. A. Messner, and A. M. Denissen. Oxford Press, 2015, pp. 459-475.

“Gendered Expectations and Sexualized Policing: Latinas’ Experiences in a Southern California High School,” Inequality, Power and School Success, edited by G. Q. Conchas and M. Gottfried. Routledge, April 2015.

With E. C. Ochoa, “Campus Protests are the Result of Generations of Racist Exclusion.” Truthout Speakout, November 25, 2015.

“Shifting School Cultures Through Better Health Education,” LA Progressive, October 12, 2015.

With E.C. Ochoa, “The Ties that Bind: Ferguson and Ayotzinapa” Counter Punch, December 12-14, 2014.

With L. E. Enriquez, S. Hamada, and J. Rojas, "(De)Constructing Multiple Gaps: Divisions and Disparities Between Asian Americans and Latinas/os in a Los Angeles County High School," Transnational Crossroads, edited by C. Fojas and R. P. Guevarra, Jr. University of Nebraska Press 2012, pp. 143-170.

With C. V. de los Ríos, “The People United Shall Never Be Divided: Reflections on Community, Collaboration, and Change,” Journal of Latinos and Education 11, 4 (September 2012): 271-279.

“Immigration, Sports, and Resistance: An Interview with Carlos Borja,” Rethinking Schools, Summer 2012.

“Transformational Caring: Mexican American Women Redefining Mothering an Education.” Chicana/Latina Mothering, edited by D. Smith Silva. Demeter Press at York University, 2011, pp.104-121.

“‘Teaching is a Fight’: An Interview with Sal Castro,” Rethinking Schools, Winter 2010-11.

With D. Pineda, "Deconstructing Power, Privilege, and Silence in the Classroom," Radical History Review 102, 2008, pp. 45-62.

With E.C. Ochoa, "Framing Latina/o Immigration, Education, and Activism," Sociology Compass 1 (2), November 2007, pp. 701-719.

"Pump Up the Blowouts: Reflections on the 40th Anniversary of the Chicana/o School Blowouts,” Rethinking Schools, Summer 2008.

"Entre Nosotras/os: Theorizing, Researching, and Constructing Cross-Latina/o Relations," Latinos/as in the United States, edited by Havidán Rodríguez, Rogelio Saenz, and Cecilia Menjivar. Springer Press 2007.

With E.C. Ochoa, "Education for Social Transformation," Latin American Perspectives 31 (1): 2004, pp. 59-80.

Select Keynotes Addresses

“Enacting Social Justice Pedagogies in Teacher Education.” University Supervisor Institute, California State University, Los Angeles, September 29, 2023.

“Highlights, Hopes and Resistance: Reflection on How and Why We Do This Work for the Long Haul.” Sociology of Education Association, Alisomar, CA, February 23, 2020

“(Re)Claiming Voices and Sharing Stories,” Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies, University of Connecticut, April 18, 2019.

“Memories, Generations of Struggle and Lessons Shared in Community,” Association of Raza Educators Annual Conference, Los Angeles, April 13, 2019.

“Critically Hopeful Approaches to Educational Justice,” Oxnard Live, Oxnard Community College, September 20, 2018.

“Chicana/o School Blowouts,” Civic Justice, La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Los Angeles, July 2018.

“Researching Where We Live: A Latina Feminist Reflection on Becoming Neighbors and Claiming Voice,” Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies’ Feminist Seminar, UC Davis, April 2017.

“Abolishing Academic Profiling and Building Affirming Spaces, Annual Summit for Courageous Conversation," Austin, TX, September 2016.

“Unpacking Diversity and Excellence: Lessons for Institutions of Higher Education,” California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo, April 2016.

“Moving Mountains, Building Bridges: The Power of Local-Global Learning,” Montebello United School District Global Learning Conference, Montebello, CA, May 2015.

“Disrupting Dominant Constructions of Education,” Showcase Oregon: Incorporating Best Practices in Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity, University of Oregon, Eugene, May 2014.

“Abolishing Academic Profiling, White Supremacy, and White Privilege in Our Schools.” White Privilege Conference, Madison, WI, March 2014.

“Educational Access and Justice for All: Learning from Latina/o Teachers and Students,” Faculty and Staff In-Service, College of the Desert, Palm Desert, CA, January 2012.

“Unpacking Latina/o Diversity and Building Authentic Relationships,” Irvine Foundation Arts Regional Initiative, San Luis Obispo, March 2011.

“Improving Race Relationships in Schools,” California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) Conference, Long Beach, CA, February 2009.