Steve says welcome!
About Me
“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
~ Paulo Freire
Biography
Born in a working-poor segregated neighborhood in San Antonio, Texas. I embraced my sociological imagination at an early age and would soon discover the social sciences. Though I studied psychology and philosophy at St. Philips Community College, I eventually changed my major to Chicanx Studies with an emphasis in Sociology as a junior at U.T. San Antonio. It was then that I began researching local (intersectional and decolonial) Chicanx-led social justice grassroots organizations that merged art and activism and theories of power/knowledge. Being able to apply the critical theories I learned to real social experiences was very exciting to me.
At the suggestion of an inspiring mentor and friend, Dr. Josie Méndez-Negrete, I moved to the Bay Area in 2001 to attend graduate school at UC Santa Cruz's Sociology Department where I studied Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, and theories of racial/gender/sexuality and national affect. I started teaching in the Bay Area in 2004 and I've been teaching at De Anza College since 2010.
Teaching
I most often teach SOC 1 Intro to Sociology, SOC 35 Sociology of Marriages, Families and Intimate Relationships, SOC 14 Process of Social Research, and SOC 28 Sociology of Gender.
Collaborations
I am currently working on several equity projects on campus with the following groups: De Anza Latinx Association, the Social Science and Humanities Equity Core Team, and the Latinx Empowerment at De Anza (¡LEAD!) mentoring and community engagement cohort program.
Classes I Teach
Winter 2024
| CRN | Course | Sec. | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35642 | SOC 1 | 01Y | Introduction to Sociology |
| 35641 | SOC 1 | 52Z | Introduction to Sociology |
| 36201 | SOC 1 | 53Z | Introduction to Sociology |
| 36202 | SOC 14 | 01Y | The Process of Social Research |
Fall 2023
| CRN | Course | Sec. | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24150 | SOC 1 | 02Y | Introduction to Sociology |
| 27080 | SOC 1 | 04Y | Introduction to Sociology |
| 26786 | SOC 1 | 1EY | Introduction to Sociology |
| 02747 | SOC 1 | 1KE | Introduction to Sociology |