BIOGRAPHY
Maythee Rojas is a Professor of Chicano and Latino Studies at California State
University, Long Beach. She received her Ph.D. in English from Arizona State University
and her B.A. from Pomona College. Her research specializations include ethnic American
literature and issues of gender and sexuality. She is the author of Women of Color and
Feminism (Seal Press: 2009). Her work has appeared in Feminist Teacher, Frontiers,
MELUS, Women’s Studies Quarterly and reference books such Notable American
Women, Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture, and Latinas in the United States: A
Historical Encyclopedia. Her most recent publication, “Shaking Up La Familia: Lesbian
Motherhood and the Chican@ Nation in Sheila Ortiz Taylor’s Faultline” is forthcoming
in Women’s Studies: An Inter-Disciplinary Journal.
In 2010-2011, Dr. Rojas served as president of the National Association for Ethnic
Studies (NAES) and was the 2009-2010 Interim Editor for its journal, Ethnic Studies
Review. She is currently the director of CSULB’s Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts
(BALA) degree completion program, which is a collaborative effort between the
campus’s College of Liberal Arts (CLA) and the College for Continuing and Professional
Education (CCPE) to assist nontraditional, working adult students in receiving their
bachelors’ degrees.
Dr. Rojas’ most recent book project is a cultural studies analysis of the interactions
between canines and U.S. Latino communities. Covering an array of topics that range
from examining the racialized policing of Latinos and animal welfare in Los Angeles
County to profiling the once-undocumented celebrity dog trainer, Cesar Milan, to tracing
the presence of dog imagery in Chican@ literature, Dr. Rojas plans to highlight the
culturally-specific bonds that Latin@ have formed with their canine companions while in
the process also addressing the socio-economic and political factors that shape and
surround many of these relationships. In particular, the book will examine acculturation,
immigration, and spirituality, and the impact that issues such as these have on how
Latin@s view dog ownership.