About

Celeste Montoya is an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies with a courtesy appointment in Political Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is based in the Political Science department, located at 333 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0333. Her contact information includes the phone number 303-492-7871 and the email address pscisa@colorado.edu. Montoya's academic role involves teaching and research within the fields of Women and Gender Studies and Political Science, contributing to the university's academic community through her scholarly work and departmental responsibilities.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Law
• Gender studies
• Social psychology
• Psychology
• Epistemology
• Mathematics
• Geography

Selected publications

• Book Review: <i>When Bad Things Happen to Privileged People: Race, Gender, and What Makes a Crisis in America</i> by Dara Z. Strolovitch

  Gender & Society · 2024-04-25

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Studying Latina Mobilization Intersectionally, Studying Latinas Mobilizing Intersectionality

  2024-05-23

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Located at the intersection of multiple marginalities, US Latinas have often mobilized in ways that reflect this intersectional positioning. Their mobilization across and between various social movements is an important feature of their activism, which has been frequently overlooked, and studies that focus on this social movement intersectionality are an important means of locating it. But there are also important differences among Latinas, who may not all share the same intersectional locations or commitments. In this article, I argue the need for an open and expansive intersectional approach to studying US Latina activism, one that aims to identify and understand the intragroup differences in where, why, and how Latinas mobilize.

  PublisherDOI

• Sí, Ella Puede! Social Movements, Community Activism, and Latina Legislative Leadership

  2023-05-18

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Social movements and community activism play an important role in producing and electing leaders from historically marginalized groups. In this chapter, I demonstrate how they have played a vital role in shaping Latina legislative leadership in Colorado, not only in the contemporary moment but also historically. The first Latina state legislators were elected in the 1970s, amid and following the vibrant cycle of protest that included the Chicano and feminist movements. In subsequent decades, the number of Latinas elected remained low, augmented by appointments, until the 2018 election, amid another significant cycle of protest. In both time periods, social movements and community activism played an important role in the political socialization of Latina leaders, often shaping the style and content of their legislative leadership. Using archival and interview data, I examine the political pathways and issue advocacy of Colorado state legislators from two different generations of activism.

  PublisherDOI

• Latina Activism in the United States

  2023-07-11 · 2 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Like other women of colour, US Latinas are located at the intersection of multiple marginalities. How they mobilise often reflects their intersectional location. There are, however, important variations in Latina positionalities, how they experience and understand these positionalities, and how this translates into their activism. Latinas have engaged in different anti-oppression movements, sometimes mobilising in the spaces between and across them, sometimes choosing one over another. This chapter argues the need for a dynamic and contextualised intersectional framework for better understanding the varied forms of US Latina activism. One that helps to identify both inter- and intragroup differences, capturing and interrogating the diverse ways in which Latinas, and Chicanas in particular, have organised over time.

  PublisherDOI

• Safe Spaces and Solidarity:

  Bristol University Press eBooks · 2023-01-31

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Safe Spaces and Solidarity: Confronting Gendered Violence in the US Occupy Encampments

  Policy Press eBooks · 2023-01-31

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Despite its unifying cry ‘We are the 99%’, the struggle for solidarity and inclusion in the US Occupy movement faced many obstacles, including allegations of sexual violence and harassment in the encampments. Internally groups grappled with how to respond to the allegations of gendered violence. While some participants dismissed or questioned the legitimacy of the claims, feminists organised to demand better. The approaches they took, however, varied within and across camps, with some taking a more intersectional approach than others. This chapter examines the various tactics deployed by feminists to address the violence occurring in protest camps, as well as the challenges they encountered both internally and externally. It concludes that failures to adequately address sexual violence and harassment threaten movement solidarity and success; however, efforts that ignore or even replicate intersecting forms of oppression can do the same.

  PublisherDOI

• Demystifying Reviewing: The Whys and Hows

  Politics & Gender · 2023-05-03 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Peer review is a key component of academic publishing, meant to maintain the integrity of the process. Peer reviewers help editors evaluate research—assessing the quality, validity, and original contribution of manuscripts submitted for publication. At its best, peer review can also help raise the quality of published research by providing authors with constructive expert feedback that helps them further develop and polish their project and its presentation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Studying Latina Mobilization Intersectionally, Studying Latinas Mobilizing Intersectionality

  Journal of Women Politics & Policy · 2023-08-30 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Located at the intersection of multiple marginalities, US Latinas have often mobilized in ways that reflect this intersectional positioning. Their mobilization across and between various social movements is an important feature of their activism, which has been frequently overlooked, and studies that focus on this social movement intersectionality are an important means of locating it. But there are also important differences among Latinas, who may not all share the same intersectional locations or commitments. In this article, I argue the need for an open and expansive intersectional approach to studying US Latina activism, one that aims to identify and understand the intragroup differences in where, why, and how Latinas mobilize.

  PublisherDOI

• Safe Spaces and Solidarity: Confronting Gendered Violence in the US Occupy Encampments

  Bristol University Press eBooks · 2023-01-30 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Safe Spaces and Solidarity: Confronting Gendered Violence in the US Occupy Encampments

  2023-01-31

  other1st authorCorresponding

  In the autumn of 2011, a wave of mobilisation spread across the United States and beyond to protest growing economic inequality and the loss of democracy to the economic elite. Occupy Wall Street and its many corollary mobilisations inspired the imagination of a new generation of activists, reinvigorated existing activists and networks, and profoundly changed political discourse. The universalising message ‘We are the 99%’ provided a wide discursive base for building a movement. Creating a meaningful and enduring solidarity across social cleavages, however, proved more challenging, and was wrought with both internal and external obstacles. One test to the struggle for solidarity came in the form of allegations of sexualised violence and harassment in the protest camps. Starting in October, the concern was raised in a number of general assemblies and reports began circulating both in the news and on social media sites.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Nadia E. Brown

  Pinsent Masons (United Kingdom)

  5 shared

• Christina E. Bejarano

  4 shared

• Lise Rolandsen Agustín

  Aalborg University

  4 shared

• Sarah Allen Gershon

  Deerfield (United States)

  3 shared

• Meg Rincker

  Purdue University Northwest

  2 shared

• Candice D. Ortbals

  Abilene Christian University

  2 shared

• Joanne Belknap

  2 shared

• Louis DeSipio

  University of California System

  2 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Political Science

  Washington University

  2005

• B.S., Political Science

  Bradley University

  1998