Rachel F. Gomez, Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D.  in Mexican American studies, University of Arizona
• M.S. in Mexican American studies: Latina/o health, University of Arizona
• B.A. in international studies: Latin America, University of Washington
• B.A. in Spanish, University of Washington

Research interests

Race, ethnicity and education in K-20 schools; participatory action research; sociopolitical context of education in urban schools and Latinx and Black communities; institutional factors in academic achievement and persistence, socioeconomic status, civic engagement, and health; and racial dynamics on college campuses

Recent projects

• Book manuscript on healing relationships in academia

Recent publications

• Gómez, R.F., *Bennett, E., & Cammarota, J. (2023). The Battle for Curriculum: Critical  Race Theory and the Politic of Education. Race, Ethnicity & Education. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2023.2239726
• Rachel F. Gómez, Ejana Bennett & Julio Cammarota (2023). The battle for curriculum: arrested semantics and reconciling racism with Critical Race Theory and Ethnic Studies, Race Ethnicity and Education, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2023.2239726
• Gómez, R.F., Guy, C. & Cammarota, J. (2022) The psychological rages of Whiteness: acceptable casualties and the White American identity, Ethnic and Racial Studies, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2021.2015418
• Gómez, R.F., & Cammarota, J. (2021). Taking the Teachers to School! Critical Consciousness Emerging: A Qualitative Exploration of Mexican American Youth’s Social Justice Orientation Development. The Urban Review, 1-28.

Bio

Dr. Gómez studies the influence of race and ethnicity in urban education and youth development. Her work investigates the significance of critical pedagogies on the critical consciousness and sociopolitical development of adolescents, with particular focus on identity, race, ethnicity, immigration status, gender and culture on educational experiences. From a practical and theoretical perspective, her research draws from Critical Race Theory and Indigenous ways of knowing, sociopolitical development theory, community cultural wealth and Participatory Action Research (PAR). In addition, she studies Latinx resilience in relation to high ethnic identity, culture and familismo. As the granddaughter of Pueblo of Isleta peoples who migrated throughout present-day New Mexico and Mexico, Gómez centers her scholarship through a Chicana feminista relational lens.