HTI Alumni

Field of Study: Religion and Society 

Dr. María Del Socorro Castañeda was born in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México and immigrated to the United States, undocumented, as a child. She is the Co-Founder & Chief Education Officer, with her teenage daughter Lupita, of Becoming Mujeres. A firm that helps Latina teens and their female caregivers to translate cultural expectations into opportunities. Dr. Castañeda is a sociologist and ethnographer. She holds a B.S. in sociology from Santa Clara University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Castañeda is a Hispanic Theological Initiative and Ford Foundation Fellow and award-winning author of “Our Lady of Everyday Life: La Virgen de Guadalupe and the Catholic Imagination of Mexican Women in America,” published by Oxford University Press, 2018. Before co-founding Becoming Mujeres, she was Assistant Professor at Santa Clara University in the Religious Studies Department. Dr. Castañeda is a sought-out speaker and expert in Mexican popular Catholicism, Our Lady of Guadalupe devotion, Latine cultural expectations, mother-daughter communication, and teenage girls & social pressures. Her research has also been supported by the Louisville Institute. She has served as a Consultant for the Louisville Institute, a Cultural/Religious Studies Consultant for The National Geographic, and Humanities Advisor to documentary filmmakers for ITVS (Independent Television Service, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting).

CV (As of 4/2023)