Dr. Steven Osuna, Associate Professor
Email: steven.osuna@csulb.edu
Office: PSY-137
Phone: (562) 985-4604
Pronouns: he/him/his
Main Courses:
- Critical Criminology (Soc. 342)
- Modern Sociological Theory (Soc. 357)
- Sociology of Migration and Immigration (Soc. 358)
- The Transnational Latino Experience in the Caribbean: Imperialism, Reform, and Revolution (CHLS 430 – Cuba Study Abroad Course)
Research Interests:
- Racism and political economy, globalization and immigration; policing and criminalization; social theory
Education:
- B.A. Chicana/o Studies, CSU Los Angeles, 2005
- M.A., Chicana/o Studies, CSU Los Angeles, 2008
- M.A./PhD, Sociology: Black Studies Doctoral Emphasis, UC Santa Barbara, 2015
Publications:
- Abrego, Leisy and Steven Osuna. “The State of Exception: Gangs as a Neoliberal Scapegoat in El Salvador.” The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Vol. 29, Issue 1 (Fall/Winter 2022).
- Osuna, Steven. “The Social Murder of Victoria Salazar: Neoliberal Capitalism and Working Class Precariousness in El Salvador.” Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis, Vol. 1, Issue 3 (2022): Article 4.
- Osuna, S (2021) “Securing Manifest Destiny: Mexico’s War on Drugs, Crisis of Legitimacy, and Global Capitalism,” Journal of World Systems Research, 21(1).
- Osuna, S (2020) “Transnational Moral Panic: Neoliberalism and the Spectre of MS-13,” Race & Class, 61(4).
- Osuna, S (2019) “The Psycho Realm Blues: The Violence of Policing, Disordering Practices, and Rap Criticism in Los Angeles,” Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures, 4(1).
- Osuna, S (2017) “Class Suicide: The Black Radical Tradition, Radical Scholarship, and the Neoliberal Turn.” In Gaye T. Johnson and Alex Lubin. The Futures of Black Radicalism.
- Osuna, S (2017) “Obstinate Transnational Memories: How Oral Histories Shape Salvadoran-Mexican Subjectivities.” In Alicia Estrada et. al. U.S. Central Americans: Reconstructing Memories, Struggles, and Communities of Resistance.
- Osuna, S (2016) “They’re Not Solving the Problem, They’re Displacing It: An Interview with Alex Sanchez.” In Jordan D. Camp and Christina Heatherton. Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter.
- Osuna, S (2015) “Intra-Latina/o Encounters: Salvadoran and Mexican Struggles and Salvadoran-Mexican Subjectivities in Los Angeles,” Special Issue of Ethnicities: Latino Formation in the U.S.: Laboring Classes, Migration & Identities 15(2).
Reviews
- Osuna, Steven, “Strike Against the Octopus: A Review of Suyapa Portillo’s Roots of Resistance,” NACLA Report on the Americas, 55:3, 333-335 (2023).
- Osuna, Steven, “Police and Thieves: On Policing, Counterinsurgency, and Racial Capitalism.” American Quarterly, 74, no. 1 (2022).
- Osuna, Steven. “The Machete of Memory: Roberto Lovato’s Memoir Unforgetting.” Boom California (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2020).
Media
- Millennials are Killing Capitalism, “Back to Organization” – David Chávez, Steven Osuna, Alejandro Villalpando & Jared Ware Offer Reflections from the Abolitions Conference, July 6, 2023.
- Summer Lin, “Cal State Long Beach faculty back professor who accused campus police of racial profiling,” Los Angeles Times, August 4, 2022.
- Millennials are Killing Capitalism, “We Need To Be Active In The Working Class Struggle For Socialism Globally’ – Steven Osuna on Class Suicide,” May 12, 2022,
- The World, “El Salvador’s Bukele Arrests 13,000 in Crusade Against Gangs,” April 20, 2022.
- The Checkout, “Episode 114: Dr. Steven Osuna on Racial Capitalism and Class Suicide,” April 3, 2022.
- Trés Mall, “Violent Entrepreneurs,” June 21, 2021.
- CSF Collective, “Interrogating Policing Transnationally with Dr. Steven Osuna,” January 4, 2021.
- Daniel Hernandez, “A Salvadoran Writer Busts the Trump Myth of the Tattooed Immigrant Threat,” LA Times, September 29, 2020.