Claudia Rodriguez Email and Phone Number

I have been a Lecturer in the Sociology Department for the past 3 years. Teaching load has included:Sociology - Women in Society Sociology - Sexualities and IdentitiesSociology of Latino/a Communities Sociology of Community Organizing

For the past seventeen years, I have been writing creatively for theater and live performance and am accustomed to writing about various topics, engaging an audience, working under pressure and meeting deadlines. I have facilitated creative writing workshops and served as an an active member of several art collectives and social cause organizations in Los Angeles. As a co-founder of Butchlalis de Panochtitlan (BdP), a sketch-driven performance ensemble that explores the liminal and controversial space of female biology on racialized female masculine bodies, I authored and performed sketches that addressed topics that included, but not limited, to cross-gender identification, immigration, gentrification, violence, addiction, interracial desire and its concomitant conflicts in an identity political hierarchy. BdP was a recipient of the University of Southern California’s (USC) “Vision and Voices: Arts and Humanities Initiatives,” which allowed me to work extensively with, MacArthur fellow, Luis Alfaro. As a performer I have gained a great deal of practical experience through workshops and residencies like script writing, movement, stage direction and production. As a recipient of 3 “National Performance Network” (NPN) sponsored residencies, I have also had the opportunity to work with youth, interview lesbian and gay seniors and joined the NPN network, formed by a group of theaters committed to “community engagement, touring, creating, sharing ideas and knowledge.

Currently teaching Chicana/o Studies M135 SEM 1Bilingual Creative Writing: A Writing WorkshopThis course is an introduction to the techniques and strategies of creative writing, including primarily fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction. Here bilingualism will be looked at as both politics and aesthetics – acting as the driving force behind writing. The course will read works of established contemporary Chicano/a and Latino/a writers and allow students to practice the techniques of these writers.

Responsibilities included working with staff at HIV/AIDS service providing organizations to increase the skills, infrastructure, and resources of individuals, organizations and communities. Capacity building is a key strategy for the promotion, delivery and sustainability of HIV prevention programs.