Lindstrom studied at the University of Chicago and is a Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Comparative Literature and a member of the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Lindstrom is the daughter of the noted sociologist Frederick B. Lindstrom (1915-1998), best known as a student of popular culture and historian of the Chicago school , and the two collaborated and co-authored conference papers and articles.

Elements of sociological thought influence Naomi Lindstrom's literary criticism, especially her 1989 book Jewish Issues in Argentine Literature and her 1998 study The Social Conscience of Latin American Writing. Since 1996, as part of her work with the Latin American Jewish Studies Association (LAJSA), Lindstrom has managed lajsa-list, a listserv on Latin American Jewish topics; the URL is lajsa-list@utlists.utexas.edu. She is the content manager of the website of LAJSA, which features research bibliographies for Latin American Jewish Studies and a continually updated registry of dissertations and theses, both completed and in progress, on Latin American Jewish topics. The site also has a page of resources for teaching courses in both Sephardic Studies and Latin American Jewish Studies. Hosted at the University of Texas at Austin, the LAJSA site has the URL www.utexas.edu/cola/orgs/lajsa/