Dr. Ruth Gomberg
Professor
Loyola University Chicago
Department of Anthropology
Lake Shore Campus, BVM 711
1032 W. Sheridan Road
Chicago, Illinois 60660
(773) 508-3582
E-mail: rgomberg@luc.edu
Ruth Gomberg is a sociocultural anthropologist with research and teaching interests in political economy, migration, Latinos/as in the U.S., race and class, applied anthropology, and urban ethnography. Her first research project explored how undocumented workers in Chicago negotiated perceptions of their labor as they struggled to attain autonomy, security, and dignity. Her second study followed undocumented people and their family members as they undertook immigration processing in an attempt to gain legal permanent residency. Her current research is with deportees' rights organizers in Mexico City. Dr. Gomberg has also been an advocate for Chicago’s immigrant rights movement since 2006.
Resources for Undocumented Students
Loyola is committed to providing accurate information and resources for current and prospective undocumented students, their families, and allies. For details, please visit Loyola's page for non-citizen students at: http://luc.edu/diversity/resources/undocumentedstudentresources.
Research Opportunities for Students
Dr. Gomberg believes that students learn best by doing, and she encourages interested students to contact her about opportunities for gaining practical experience in ethnographic fieldwork. Students have used these opportunities to conduct research funded by LUROP Fellowships, Provost Awards, and Johnson Scholarships, and to complete credits in Independent Study or Fieldwork.
Books
2022 Bolles, A. Lynn, Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz, Bernie Perley, and Keri Vacanti-Brondo, eds. Anthropological Theory for the 21st Century: A Critical Reader. Toronto: Toronto University Press.
2019 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth. Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network, 10th Anniversary Edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
2016 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth. Becoming Legal: Immigration Law and Mixed Status Families. New York: Oxford University Press.
2011 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth. Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network. New York: Oxford University Press.
Selected Articles and Chapters
2021 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth. The Mexico City Runaround: Temporal Barriers to Deportee Acclimation. In Stealing Time: Migration, Temporalities, and State Violence, Monish Bhatia and Victoria Canning, eds. New York: Palgrave.
2020 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth and Reyna Wences. Fight for the City: Policing, Sanctuary, and Resistance in Chicago. Geographical Review.
2020 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth. Knowing Your Rights in Trump’s America: Paper Trails of Migrant Community Empowerment. Paper Trails: Migrants and Documents in an Era of Legal Insecurity, Sarah Horton and Josiah Heyman, eds. Durham: Duke University Press.
2018 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth. Come to Terms: Accomplices. Journal of the Anthropology of North America 21(1): 35–37.
2018 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth. Resources for Migrant Returnees. Cultural Anthropology. Hot Spots, Cultural Anthropology website, January 31, 2018.
2016 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth. The Juárez Wives Club: Gendered Citizenship and U.S. Immigration Law. American Ethnologist 43(2): 339–352.
2016 Mena Robles, Jorge and Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz. Activism after DACA: Lessons from Chicago's Immigrant Youth Justice League. North American Dialogue 19(1): 46-54.
2016 Wheatley, Abby C. and Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz. Keep Moving: Collective Agency Along the Migrant Trail. Citizenship Studies 20 (3–4): 396–410. DOI: 10.1080/13621025.2016.1158351.
2015 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth. The Punishment/El Castigo: Undocumented Latinos and U.S. Immigration Processing. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
2011 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth and Laura Nussbaum-Barberena. Is Immigration Policy Labor Policy?: Immigration Enforcement, Undocumented Labor, and the State. Human Organization 70(4): 366–375.
2010 Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth. Willing to Work: Agency and Vulnerability in an Undocumented Immigrant Network. American Anthropologist 112(2):295-307.
Research report
2020 Gomberg-Munoz, Ruth, Esmeralda Flores Marcial, Ana Laura Lopez, Magdalena Loredo, Adriana Sandoval, Reyna Wences, Dolores Unzueta, Rosi Carrasco, Martin Unzueta. 2020. Deportees in Mexico City. Research Report. June, 2020.
