Christine Rosales, PhD
Assistant Professor
I am a social-community psychologist, interdisciplinary scholar, activist, and freedom dreamer. My primary research interests concern everyday forms of resistance against oppression and other-world-making, especially as engaged in by women and Communities of Color.
My goals are to intertwine risk with others (i.e. solidarity) in social justice struggles, educate, build, and work towards realities outside of capitalism, patriarchy, settler colonialism, white supremacy, ableism, etc.
Biography
Education
2020
Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz
Social Psychology
Designated Emphases: Feminist Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies
Thesis title: Building roots and wings: Latina women's daily resistance and freedom dreams
Thesis chair: Regina Day Langhout, PhD
Committee members: Drs: Cindy Cruz, Michelle Fine, Heather Bullock
2016
M.S., University of California, Santa Cruz
Social Psychology
2013
B.A., Chapman University
Major: Psychology
Minor: Peace Studies
Magna Cum Laude
2012
McNair Scholars Program
Claremont Graduate University
Employment
2020- present
Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, CSUMB
January 2024- April 2024
Adjunct Professor, Community, Liberation, and Indigenous Eco-Psychologies Department,
Pacifica Graduate Institute
2019- 2020
American Association of University Women (AAUW) Dissertation Fellow
2016- 2019
Women's Center M.I.N.T. mentoring program coordinator, UC Santa Cruz
2013- 2019
Teaching fellow & graduate teaching assistant, UC Santa Cruz
Publications
Academic
Rosales, C. E. (2024). Radical self-love: A spiritual and visionary practice of resistance by Latina women. In M. J. Villaseñor & H. Jimenéz (Eds), Latinx experiences: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 321-331). Sage Publishing.
Rosales, C. E. (2023). Finding a community in plants: Reexamining the decolonial project of rehumanization with our nonhuman relatives. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 29(1), 52–59. https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000628
Langhout, R. D., Rosales, C. E., & Gordon, D. L., Jr. (2022). “Success” in the borderlands: Measuring success for underrepresented and misrepresented college students. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000444
Rosales, C.E., & Majzler, R. (2022). We need more praxis: A case for praxis assignments in psychology courses. Teaching of Psychology, 0(0), 1-6.
Rosales, C.E. (2020). Building Roots and Wings: Latina Women’s Daily Resistance and Freedom Dreams (Doctoral dissertation, UC Santa Cruz).
Awarded the 2021 Emory L. Cowen Dissertation Award for the Promotion of Wellness via the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA), Division 27 of the APA.
Rosales, C.E., & Langhout, R. D. (2020). Just because we don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there: Everyday resistance in psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 14(1), e12508.
Rosales, J., & Rosales, C.E. (2019). Consejos de una Mamá Sobresaliente: Dialogue, Reflections, and Healing between a Salvadorean-Born Mother and her US-Born Daughter. Education, 45(3), 363-372.
Dissertation Zine:
Other Publications
Rosales, C. (2022). Wearing a Mask is an Act of Anti-Racism and Radical Love.
https://medium.com/@chelbrow/wearing-a-mask-is-an-act-of-anti-racism-and-radical-love-265ecc7a28d9
Rosales, C. (2022). Who's your ancestor? 2022 plant life at CSUMB.
https://issuu.com/chelrosa/docs/who_s_your_ancestor_2022_csumb_plants
Rosales, C. (2021). Abolish RTP! Visions of transformative justice. CSUMB Diverse Perspectives.
https://csumb.edu/diversity/news/diverse-perspectives/abolish-rtp-visions-of-transformative-justice/
UCSC MINT Collective (2020). Giving back the UCSC chancellor's achievement award for diversity: The MINT program. https://medium.com/@ucscmintcollective?p=9d9f50bff12c
Teaching
Fall 2024 Courses:
Psy 355: Social Psychology and Social Justice
Psy 357: Psychology of Liberation and Healing
Psy 397: Independent Study (Research lab)
Previous Courses Taught:
DPC:923 Psychosocial & Collective Trauma (Pacifica Graduate Institute)
Psy 200: Introduction to Research Methods
Psy 357: Psychology of Liberation and Healing
Psy 355: Social Psychology and Social Justice
Psy 149: Community Psychology
Oaks 47: Healing Justice: Building an Inner Sanctuary
CRES 177: Everyday Forms of Resistance in the Context of Neoliberalism, White Supremacy, and Settler Colonialism
Examples of Assignments & Previous student work (with student's permission):
Psychology of Liberation and Healing Fall 2022 Class Zine
CRES 177 Zine
Psychology of Liberation and Healing Spring 2023 Class Zine
Psychology of Liberation and Healing Spring 2024 Class Photovoice Project
In the Media:
Program of Research
General Research Interests
Generally, my program of research surrounds the question, how are Women of Color dreaming about and creating other-worlds outside of coloniality and racial capitalism? What are the resistance and healing practices that we as psychologists have failed to pay attention to, validate, and celebrate? I am strongly influenced by Women of Color thinkers and healers in and outside of the academy, such as adrienne marie brown's concept of emergent strategy, and draw from work across multiple disciplines (e.g. ethnic studies, feminist studies, Latin American and Latino Studies). My work is strongly guided by liberation psychology and decolonial frameworks. I aspire to be an activist-scholar (always in the process of becoming) whose work is in service of people, not institutions or quotas.
If you are a student at CSUMB and are interested in this work, please contact me via email for possible research opportunities.
Current Research Projects
I am working on various research projects at the moment, please contact me to learn more.
Links and Resources
I recommend checking out these rad Instagram Accounts:
Revolunas
A WoC collective who are committed to the healing of womxn, youth, & QTPOC through spirituality, creative expression, community building, & education
Nalgona Positivity Pride
Xicana-Indigenous Body Positive and Eating Disorder Awareness Organization
The Unapologetic Street Series
A visual series utilizing public space for storytelling by QPOC/Created by visual artist @johannareign
#Doctorahood
We exist to empower Doctoras (present/future) w/ femtorship support & connections