Nilda Flores-Gonzalez

Office Address:
Department of Sociology (m/c 312)      Latin American Studies Program (m/c219)
4160 Behavioral Sciences Building     University of Illinois at Chicago 

University of Illinois at Chicago             601 South Morgan 
1007 West Harrison Street                    Chicago, IL 60607
Chicago, IL 60607-7140                        
(312) 996-6886
E-mail Address: nilda@uic.edu 
 

In Brief:

Associate Professor of LALS and Sociology.  (P.h.D. Sociology, University of Chicago, 1995)  is an associate professor with a joint appointment in Sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago .  She studies race and ethnicity, identity, youth, education and U.S. Latinos, She has three ongoing research projects:  (1) one project focuses on media discourses on inner-city schools, particularly on how the media criminalizes inner-city schools, school activists and students, and how these images shape public opinion and policy, (2) another project examines youth engagement in social justice, and (3) a third project focuses on the Immigrant Rights mobilizations of March 10 and May 1^st in Chicago.  Her book, School Kids, Street Kids: Identity Development in Latino Students (2002) focuses on how kids construct identities in relation to school, how the school and its practices shape these identities, and how these identities influence educational outcomes.  Additionally, she has published several articles on various topics such as Puerto Rican high achieving students, extracurricular participation and retention, race and Latino identity, youth and social justice, and the Puerto Rican community of Chicago . Her publications are included in journals such as International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization, Centro Journal, Journal of Poverty, and the Latino Studies Journal.

Education:

            Ph.D., 1995, Sociology, University of Chicago.
            M.A., 1990, Sociology, University of Chicago.
            B.A., 1988, Psychology, Northern Illinois University.  Summa cum laude, minors in    
            Anthropology, Sociology, Latino/Latin American Studies.

Areas of Interest:

            Race and ethnicity, Identity, U.S. Latinos, ethnographic studies

Courses:

            Latinas in the United States
            Introduction to Puerto Rican Culture and Society
            Race and Ethnicity in Education
            Racial and Ethnic Groups
            Identity Theory
            Latinos in Chicago
            Research in Latino Communities
 

Awards:

            Excellence in Teaching Award, UIC 1998
            Great Cities Institute Faculty Scholar, 2001-02
            Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy Faculty Fellow, 1998-1999

 Publications:

Quiroz, Pamela Anne, Nilda Flores-Gonzalez, and Kenneth A. Frank (1996).  Carving a Niche in the Hight School Social Structure:  Formal and Informal:  Constraints On Participation in the Extra Curriculum. Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization, 11:930120.

Flores-Gonzalez, Nilda (1999).  Puerto Rican High Achievers: An Example of Ethnic and Academic Identity Compatibility.  Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 10(3):343-362.

Flores-Gonzalez, Nilda (1999).  The Racialization of Latinos:  The Meaning of Latino Identity for the Second Generation. Latino Studies Journal, 10(3):3-31.

Flores-Gonzalez, Nilda (2000).  The Structuring of Extracurricular Opportunities and Latino Student Retention.  Journal of Poverty, 4(1/2):85-108.

Flores-Gonzalez, Nilda (Forthcoming)  “Involuntary Sterilization.”  Multicultural Encyclopedia of Women’s Reproductive Rights in the United States.
 

Book:

School Kids, Street Kids:  Identity and Development in Latino Students.
                                           Teaching College Press (2002_
 

Current Research:

From Radicals to Terrorists:  The evolving Image of Roberto Clemente High School.
This Project involves the collection and analysis of newspaper articles and other media news about Roberto Clemente High School in Chicago. The goal of the study is to show how the image of the school as constructed by the media has been problematic and stigmatized. Beginning in the 1970s, Clemente as well as its precursor, Tuley High School, were defined and labeled as a “hotbed” for local politics.  Since then, the school has been portrayed as a school where Puerto Rican youths are indoctrinated and recruited into “radical” Puerto Rican pro-independence groups. The study investigates how the rhetoric of
“radicalism” have way to the discourse of “terrorism” of the late 1990s, paying particular attention to the content of the stories told by the media as well as the language used and how these affect
the general image of the school.

“El Paseo Boricua:” Claiming a Puerto Rican Space in Chicago. The purpose of this study is to uncover the reasons and meanings attached to the development of “Paseo Boricua,” a six block segment of Division in Humboldt Park.  Paseo Boricua follows the concept of “gateways” or the demarcation of formal entry into an areas such as the arches in Little Village and Chinatown.  The intention of Paseo Boricua is to mark the area as distinctively Puerto Rican, and to foster the economic development of the area.  Paseo Boricua is demarcated by two huge Puerto Rican steel flags and many Puerto Rican symbols found in between.  In this study, I examine (1) the reasons why Paseo Boricua developed, (2) how symbols are used to give the area a Puerto Rican identity, and (3) what effect has it had on the community.