Biography

Loretta Gaffney studies contemporary working-class literature, reading, and critical university studies. Her classes reimagine disciplines and topics traditionally taught in English departments (literature, storytelling, creative writing) in a labor studies context.

Gaffney believes that reading and writing are inextricably linked, and that both are key to union solidarity. She also believes that the labor movement needs art in order to better interpret and imagine a worker-centered world.

Currently co-chair of Unit 18 UC-AFT, Los Angeles Chapter, Gaffney holds a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science and a M.A. in English Literature. She is originally from Iowa and spends her free time reading, organizing, and visiting her kids at college.

Courses Taught

LBR STDS 153 Stories of Struggle: Work, Class, and Narrative of Contemporary America

LBR STDS 154 Storytelling for Activists and Organizers

LBR STDS 188 Creative Writing Workshop for Labor Studies

LBR STDS 188 Revolutionary Fantasies: Inequality and Protest in Contemporary Science Fiction