Biography
Dr. Gabriel Gutiérrez is Professor of Chicano/a Studies at California State University, Northridge where he served as Associate Chair from Fall 2007-Spring 2011. He also serves as Director of the Center for the Study of the Peoples of the Americas (CESPA).
He earned a Ph.D. in Chicano/a History at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1997. an MA in Latin American and Nineteenth-Century US history at UCSB in 1993, and a BA in Chicano/a Studies and Political Science from UCSB in 1990.
His publications include "Affirmative Action of the First Kind: Social and Legal Constructions of Whiteness and White Male Privilege in Nineteenth-Century California," and the coauthorded introduction with Co-Editor KarenMary Davalos, "Erasing Boundaries: Chicana/o Studies and Critical Race Theory," in Latino Studies Journal, Special Issue: Chicano/a Studies and Critical Race Theory.
His ongoing research on Disney and Latinos/as resulted in the publication of “Deconstructing Disney: Chicano/a Children and Critical Race Theory,” in Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies, and “Social Imagineering in Disney’s The Lion King: The Three ‘C’s’”, in Roberta Orona-Cordova, ed. Chicano/a Studies Reader: A Bridge to Writing.
Dr. Gutierrez has examined contemporary environmental racism resulting in publication of “Juana Beatríz Gutiérrez: Activist Mother,” in John Mongillo and Bibi Booth, eds., Environmental Activists, and “The Mothers of East Los Angeles Strike Back,” in Robert D. Bullard, ed., Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color.
Trained as a nineteenth-century California historian, Dr. Gutiérrez's dissertation "Bell Towers, Crucifixes, and Cañones Violentos" examines the Mexicanization of California Indians prior to industrialization.
While conducting research in the Santa Barbara Mission Archives Library , he developed a study on nineteenth century cultural economy, patriarchy and gender relations as seen through the letters of Santa Barbara ranchero and politician Pablo de la Guerra to his wife Josefa Moreno de la Guerra. The study, “Con Sus Calzones Al Revés, With His Underpants on Inside Out: Cultural Economy and Patriarchy in the Letters of Pablo de la Guerra to Josefa Moreno de la Guerra, 1851-1872,” was published by the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University.
His encyclopedia entries are included in the Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States, Oxford University Press and Encyclopedia Latina: History, Culture, Society, Grolier Press. He has presented his work nationally and internationally including conferences in Mexico, Canada, and Cuba.
Between December 2003 and November 2009, Dr. Gutiérrez produced and hosted the weekly show “The Morning Review with Gabriel Gutiérrez” on Pacifica Radio Network’s Los Angeles Affiliate KPFK 90.7 FM. The show was one of the top ten shows on KPFK during its run.
Currently, Dr. Gutiérrez is working on a two volume reference book Latinos and Latinas: Risks and Opportunities (ABC-
CLIO Publishers) that examines quality of life issues throughout the Latino/a lifecycle.
Though he never played it himself, he spends most of his evenings and weekends coaching or watching his three children play fútbol. He currently serves as Registrar for International Fútbol Club in the San Gabriel Valley.