Joanna Cardenas
South Central Los Angeles has a long history of male-dominant gang affiliations, categorizing the city of Los Angeles as the gang capital of the nation. This led to excessive surveillance and sky-rocketing rates of male incarceration since the 1980s, making L.A. men jails the face of mass incarceration. Research is lacking, however, around the social and cultural understandings of Black and Brown women in South Centrals carceral landscape. Joanna, therefore, will analyze the way these social and cultural understandings ultimately affect the way South Central women navigate structures of state […]
Lulu Matute
Hundreds of environmental activists have been killed for defending land and natural resources in Honduras. Although Berta Cceres was one of many slain activists, she is the most renowned globally. This is largely due to her transnational coalition-building efforts and Goldman Environmental Prize recognition. Berta was an outspoken Indigenous Lenca leader and a feminist who advocated for indigenous land tenure. She spoke out against government corruption, the 2009 military coup d’tat, and U.S. interests in the country. Lulu will conduct ethnographic interviews with Honduran women living in the Bay Area […]
Adrián García Hernández
Rural areas compose 86% of Mexicos territory and account for 36% of the population while rural GDP per capita ranges between 27% and 43% of the national average. To address this urban/rural developmental divide, the Secretariat of Tourism created the Programa Pueblos Mgicos (PPM). Its goal was to raise local levels of wellbeing by promoting economic development through tourism. By carrying out a sense of community survey, collecting socioeconomic data, and interviewing residents and town officials, Adrin will explore whether the PPM has resulted in the abatement or aggravation of […]
Nalya Arabelle Fenella Rodriguez
Looking at the factors that led to the Salvadoran civil war, such as the social inequalities of the time, Nalya has found it important to further understand the implications of this political violence in the creation of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) street gang. Using Durkheims theory of religion, she has developed a theory on the religion of violence. This “religion” has created a system of perpetual violence in El Salvador, which was ironically exacerbated by US domestic and foreign policy on gangs and immigration. By interviewing people in Los Angeles […]
Daniel Basurto
Today, California educates 2.1 million students enrolled at 115 community collegesmaking the California community college system the most extensive system of higher education in the United States. For Daniel Joseph Basurtos history honors thesis, he will fill in the gaps of history that led to the first two junior colleges and ultimately sparked the California junior college movement. His research will focus on the educational, political, and financial influences that led to creating Fresno City College and Santa Barbara City College. He will analyze primary sources at different archives throughout […]
Ariadna González Aguilera
Ariadna’s research project will focus on the West Berkeley Shellmound, an ancient village site that was once situated on the San Francisco Bay shoreline in Berkeley, California. Her thesis is directed toward understanding how Native American societies interacted with their environment during the last 5000 years. Research will be conducted on animal remains from the shellmound, using curated materials excavated in the early and mid-twentieth century, to understand ancient fisheries and fishing practices. Archaeological analyses of fisheries can contribute to historical baseline data relevant for conservation biology, restoration ecology, and […]
Nicholas Eskow
In 1873, more than 100 Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Stockton, Texas signed a petition requesting formal censure of the post surgeon for his racist refusal to treat a sick and dying man. The officers responded by putting the soldiers on trial for mutiny. Nicks research will look at how these soldiers, most of whom were born into enslavement, came to understand and express their rights as United States citizens. This research will combine primary documentary sources, housed at the National Archives and Fort Stockton, with secondary literature on African American […]
Casey Racicot
On August 6, 2012, the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, California exploded, hospitalizing 15,000 people and causing severe environmental impacts. In the weeks that followed the explosion, the infrastructure surrounding the refinery became stressed as businesses shut down, hospitals became overwhelmed, gardens and vegetation died, and peoples sense of stability shattered. The purpose of Casey’s project is to explore the extent to which residents in the surrounding areas felt a sense of community before and after the explosion, and the medias role in shaping these perceptions. Her research will explore the […]
Kara Anderson
While extensive research explores inequalities in the criminal justice system, little sociological literature analyzes inequalities in the civil justice system. Whereas a constitutional right to counsel exists for criminal cases, litigants in civil cases must either pay enormous attorney fees or represent themselves in navigating complex issues such as divorce, restraining orders, evictions, and more. The difference between the supply and demand for civil legal assistance is known as the justice gap. Kara’s research examines how Superior Court Self-Help Centers, one of California’s most extensive strategies for narrowing the justice […]
Lissa Garcia
Lissa grew up in Chula Vista, California, where many are transfronterizos, students and workers who live in Mexico but commute to the U.S almost daily. Nancy Wonders advances the theory of border performativity where she argues borders are not only geographically constituted, but also socially constructed via the performance of various state actors in an elaborate dance with ordinary people who seek freedom of movement and identification. Thus, border performativity points to different technologies of control such as the social construction of the illegal and the securitisation of migration. Lissas […]