Dr. San Juanita García
Title & Affiliation
Assistant Professor, Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara)
Specialization
- Immigration
- Latinx Sociology
- Intersectionality
- Medical Sociology
- Sociology of Mental Health
- Aging
- Social Determinants of Health
Biography
Dr. San Juanita García is a sociologist whose research centers on immigration, racialization, and mental health, with a focus on Mexican-origin communities. Her work examines how deportation regimes and anti-immigrant climates shape experiences of discrimination, identity formation, stress, and intra-group dynamics, particularly among Mexican-origin women.
A key contribution of her scholarship is the concept of “vicarious illegality,” which captures the psychological and emotional toll experienced by individuals who witness the consequences of undocumented status affecting their family members, partners, and communities. This framework advances understanding of how immigration policies extend their impact beyond those directly targeted.
Prior to joining UC Santa Barbara, Dr. García served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Riverside. She was also a National Research Service Award (NRSA) Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellow (2015–2017) at the Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with joint sponsorship from Duke University’s Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. During this time, she received advanced training in public health and mental health services research.
Her collaborative work includes participation in a randomized controlled trial (Padres Efectivos), funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which focused on improving activation skills among Latina mothers of children with mental health needs.
Dr. García’s research has been supported by prestigious funding sources, including the American Sociological Association Minority Fellowship Program, the Ford Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. Her work is widely published across leading journals in sociology, public health, and race and ethnicity studies.
Education
- Ph.D., Sociology, Texas A&M University, 2014
- M.S., Sociology, Texas A&M University, 2010
- B.A., Criminal Justice, Spanish, and Sociology, Sam Houston State University, 2007
Selected Publications/Books
- Peer-Reviewed Articles
- García, San Juanita. 2018. “Living a Deportation Threat: Stressors Confronted by Undocumented Mexican Immigrant Women.” Race and Social Problems 10(3): 221–234.
- García, San Juanita. 2017. “Racializing ‘Illegality’: An Intersectional Approach to Understanding How Mexican-origin Women Navigate an Anti-Immigrant Climate.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity.
- García, San Juanita. 2017. “Bridging Critical Race Theory and Migration: Moving Beyond Assimilation Theories.” Sociology Compass.
- Jolles, Monica Pérez, et al. 2017. “Involving Latina/o Parents in Patient-Centered Outcome Research.” Health Expectations.
- Thomas, Kathleen C., et al. 2017. “Fostering Activation in Latina/o Parents of Children with Mental Health Needs: A Randomized Trial.” Psychiatric Services.
- Montes de Oca, Verónica, San Juanita García, and Rogelio Sáenz. 2013. “Transnational Aging: Disparities among Aging Mexican Immigrants.” Transnational Social Review.
Book Chapters
- García, San Juanita. 2017. “Barred Por Vida: María Inez’s Battle to Find Health and WellBeing.” In Forced Out and Fenced In: Immigration Tales from the Field (Oxford University Press).
- Childers, Trenita, and San Juanita García. 2016. “The Racial Implications of Immigration Policy.” In Agenda for Social Justice: Solutions for 2016.
- Sáenz, Rogelio, Amber Fox, and San Juanita García. 2013. “Latino Elderly in Nonmetro America.” In Rural Aging in the 21st Century (Springer).
- Sáenz, Rogelio, Cecilia Menjívar, and San Juanita García. 2011. “Arizona’s SB 1070: Setting Conditions for Violations of Human Rights Here and Beyond.” In Sociology and Human Rights: A Bill of Rights in the Twenty-First Century (Pine Forge Press); reprinted in Governing Immigration Through Crime: A Reader (Stanford University Press, 2013).