About

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.

Accolades

Supervisor's Award of Service

Chicana/o Fellows Program
Stanford University

Humanities Research Institute Fellow, UC Irvine

Ford Foundation
Dissertation Fellowship

Ford Foundation
Postdoctoral Fellow

Books

Creative Collectives:
Chicana Painters Working in Community

This book examines the development of two Northern California Chicana/Latina artists’ groups, Mujeres Muralistas and Co-Madres Artistas, who came together during distinct periods of the Chicana/o Art Movement, and established their rightful spaces as artists and activists within the struggle for social justice. Dr. Ochoa situated her core argument by highlighting the individual processes of the subject artists, examining the constitutive elements of their art, and discussing the effect of collectively produced artwork. The stories of the individual artists illustrate the strategies they employed to create their art, even as they balanced multiple priorities, working at jobs outside the realm of the arts, attending to their extended families’ needs, and participating in community organizations that advocated for equitable access to education, employment, and healthcare.

BUY NOW

María Ochoa introduces us to visual artists whose projects resist the politics that limit their art to the realm of private viewing and elite commentary.

Angela Y. Davis

Distinguished Professor Emerita of History Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz

Inductee, National Women’s Hall of Fame

Shout Out:
Women of Color Respond to Violence

Shout Out is a collection that interweaves critical examinations, testimonies, prose, poetry, and visual art, about individuals and organizations who are working to end war, rape, murder, sex trafficking, and partner violence with material created by and about Latin American, Eastern European, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, and Southeast Asian women, as well as African American, Asian American, Indo-American, Chicana, and First Nation women. The anthology interlaces the voices of schoolgirls with those of women from Generations X and Y, baby boomers, and women in their elder years.

BUY NOW

Reader, this is my recommendation: Open your heart to this book; it has the potential to change how you look at life–––and how you live it.

Chitra Lekha Divakaruni, Ph.D.

Professor of Creative Writing, University of Houston

Recipient, American Book Award

Russell City: Images of America

This photo book is a comprehensive history about the perpetual displacement of people who once called the bayside land their home. Beginning with Irgin Ohlone who thrived through their careful stewardship of the environment until their removal by Spanish missionaries and soldiers, and concluding in the 20th century with the demolition of homes, churches, and businesses that were built there overtime. When Mexican and Black families, sought to establish a stake in the burgeoning East Bay of the pre- and post-World War II era, they were directed by realtors to the rural locale as a means of segregating them from the white neighborhoods of Hayward, San Lorenzo, and San Leandro. Eventually, these same stakeholders of color were evicted from their homes, businesses, and churches through the use of eminent domain in order for an industrial park to be built. Although their community was torn asunder, the former residents keep their relationships alive by convening for an annual reunion picnic. A common refrain heard during the gathering is, “The city may be gone, but the memories live on."