Rethinking Advocacy

Professor Citlalli Ochoa’s scholarship sits at the intersection of international human rights law and social movement theory, examining how advocacy and law can work together to create lasting systemic change. Her recent article, Bridging Movement Lawyering & International Human Rights Advocacy (66 Boston College Law Review), explores how movement lawyering can be enriched through a global human rights lens. As Professor Ochoa notes, “Something that came out of this piece was a reinforcement of the idea that one advocacy avenue is not going to be sufficient to achieve the more long-term, sustainable systemic change that is necessary to truly address some of the root causes that impact marginalized and underserved communities.”

Building on these ideas, Professor Citlalli Ochoa is working on a piece that introduces relational movement theory, which calls for a fundamental shift in how U.S. advocates address systemic injustices such as racial inequality, economic disenfranchisement, and structural violence. Drawing on international human rights norms, transnational advocacy strategies, and diverse traditions of justice, relational movement theory posits that meaningful legal and structural change requires cultivating collaborations across socio, political, and legal systems. 

This upcoming work, she adds, feels especially timely “given what is currently happening in the U.S.—a shift toward authoritarianism that we haven’t seen so explicitly in the past.” Professor Ochoa emphasizes that “integrating legal mobilization, collective resistance, and cross-border collaborations is going to be key in realizing relational movement theory and responding to the current moment.” She expects to submit this piece during the spring submission cycle.