Ochoa, Maria
Professor Emerita
Sociology & Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
Preferred: maria.ochoa@sjsu.edu
Alternate: mariaochoaphd@gmail.com
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, Univ Of Cal-Santa Cruz, 1995
- Bachelor of Arts, Humanities, New College Of Cal, 1989
Bio
María Ochoa is Professor Emerita of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences at San José State University. Her research interests emerge from the liminal spaces of textual expression, visual representation, and social justice movements, particularly as they intersect with the quotidian experiences of Chicanas and other women of color.
Dr. Ochoa began her path of scholarly discovery with Dr. Teresia Teaiwa and Dr. MR Daniel, while they were doctoral candidates in the History of Consciousness program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The trio co-founded the Research Cluster for the Study of Women of Color in Collaboration and Conflict. Dr. Daniel launched and produced the Women of Color Film and Video Festival. Dr. Ochoa and Dr. Teaiwa served as editors of the journal Inscriptions 7: Enunciating Our Terms — Women of Color in Collaboration and Conflict.
Two germinal projects followed as Dr. Ochoa planted the theoretical seeds for her exploration of collaborative work among women in the arts by developing a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with artist-activists. The first with the Hispana weavers of Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, who formed the legendary Tierra Wools cooperative and revived a tradition of sustainable sheepherding that economically and culturally sustained their rural community. These findings were published in the University of Arizona's Mexican American Studies publication, Perspectives in Mexican American Studies.
Dr. Ochoa then embarked on a second set of thematic interviews. These were conducted with members of Aché, a publication created by and intended for Black lesbians in the Bay Area, which provided visibility for writers and visual artists whose creative output addressed and illuminated public discourse on timely issues through their critical analyses, prose, poetry, and visual art.
These twinned experiences informed the approach she later applied in her dissertation, Creative Collectives: A Study of Chicana Artistic Expressiveness, about two Chicana-Latina artist groups, Co-Madres Artistas and Mujeres Muralistas, which earned her a doctorate in History of Consciousness from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her dissertation, which received a National Women’s Studies-Pergamon Award, was subsequently published in book form.
Committed to her belief that meta-histories with their broad swaths of time, place, and participants, distort and render invisible the contributions of BIPOC women, her next project was a collaboration with American literature scholar, Dr. Barbara K. Ige. Together they edited the anthology Shout Out: Women of Color Respond to Violence, a collection of critical essays, prose, poetry, and visual art with contributions from over 50 women and girls from around the world.
Currently, Dr. Ochoa is writing a new book, Crisis in Amber: The Rise and Demise of Russell City, 1930-1964. When she’s not conducting research, Dr. Ochoa creates storybooks for young audiences, hoping that her writing will dazzle them with the same magic she experienced while reading fiction as a girl. One of these projects is a young adult novel about a multi-generational Mexican family of curanderas, traditional healers.
An avid photographer, Dr. Ochoa applies her portraiture skills in her Bay Area explorations. To view this work including a video short Voices of Russell City: The Reunion Picnic, visit www.mariaochoa.com.
She resides in the East Bay with her husband and their cat. She spends her free time weightlifting at a local community college and taking walks with friends.