Julia Gutierrez
Academic Degrees
- BA, Northeastern Illinois University
- MA, University of Wisconsin
- PhD, Arizona State University
Teaching and Scholarly Interests
Professor Gutiérrez is a social science researcher who focuses on the intersection of poverty and immigration studies with an emphasis on Latina immigrant women. Using feminist qualitative methods her scholarship explores perceptions of poverty among Mexican immigrant women in Chicago post-migration. Her work incorporates multiple feminist frameworks: transnational feminism, intersectionality theory, and borderlands theory. Dr. Gutiérrez’s second research interest explores further U.S. poverty measurements and asks, how can poverty be measured beyond just income, and can healthcare, food insecurity, housing, and education deprivations be considered variables for measurement? Can the severity of these deprivations demonstrate a more accurate depth of poverty? This second project explores these questions using the Alkire-Foster (AF) methodology to create a multidimensional poverty index on the Westside of Chicago.Dr.Gutierrez has also conducted research for the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality as part of the The American Voices Project (AVP) the largest national representative mixed-methods research project on poverty in the U.S. Her work has been published in QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking and at The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality “Monitoring the Crisis: American Voices Project” reports.
Professor Gutiérrez’s courses include Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Intersectional Research Methods., and electives, such as U.S. Women of Color and Economic Inequality.
Professional Activities
Dr. Gutierrez has presented her work in the following conferences among others:
- A Feminist Methodological Approach to Developing a Multidimensional Poverty Index for the West Side of Chicago. 2023 ACS Data Users Conference. Virtual Conference. May 2023.
- Mexican Immigrant Women’s Transnational Experiences as a Form of Knowledge in Navigating U.S. Poverty. American Studies Association. Atlanta, GA. November 2018.
- “We identify as poor because of the money we earn not because of the way we live”: Perceptions and Experiences of Poverty among Mexican Immigrant Women on the Southwest side of Chicago, National Women’s Studies Association. Atlanta, GA. November 2018.
- “Struggling in the U.S. is the same as in Mexico!” Globalizing the Feminization of Poverty through Mexican Migrant Women’s Experiences. Global Studies Association- North America. Howard University, Washington, D.C. June 2018.