California Cultures in Comparative Perspective
Encyclopedia
California Cultures in Comparative Perspective is a program at the University of California, San Diego
in California
dedicated to fostering creative and activist interdisciplinary research, teaching, and collaboration among California’s communities, faculty, and students. California – in all its dimensions—is the object of its focus.
Cal Cultures (as it is also known) grew out of a concerted effort to explore new epistemological, conceptual, and methodological challenges created by the diverse demographics of a new and changing California. Central to this effort are the stratified economic conditions, resulting power relations and social formations that have reconfigured California at the nexus of local struggle and global process at the turn of this century.
California is the prism through which the program explores these challenges specifically in the ways they intersect with immigration
, the environment
, health
, education
, language
, cultural production
, citizenship
, democracy
and diversity
. Cal Cultures remaps California within the complexity of global cartography
and accentuates the state’s multiple geopolitical borders and transnational frontiers, including Mexico
and the Americas, Asia
and the Pacific, and regions represented by emerging diasporic
relations such as Africa
and the Middle East
.
The program's ultimate goal is to foster new dialogue, frameworks and collaborations in research and practice at both the University of California
and with the broader regional, international and global communities of which all Californians are a part. Cal Cultures emphasizes the need for new and inclusive knowledge and practical engagement. Local communities are not only instrumental in this design but are at the heart of this understanding.
. It is similar to other social justice
oriented minors at UC San Diego in that its basic requirements lower and upper division courses from departments in the Social Sciences and the Arts & Humanities that relate to the program's mission.
What sets this minor apart from others though is that minor requirements may also be fulfilled with coursework
in conjunction with internships at local and community based organizations.
ships to graduate students whose research focuses on questions relevant to California as a major nexus in global and diasporic processes, and that attends to hierarchical, comparative and relational processes inherent in this contemporary condition. This includes research on social movement
s, the military, boundaries, diverse community history and rapidly changing populations, as well as projects that focus on the literal and metaphorical borders between the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, as well as those that highlight community-based collaborative research methodologies.
-“Understanding the U.S. Addiction to Prisons: From California to Abu Ghraib
” (a lecture by Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Professor of Geography and American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California)
-"The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation Between African-Americans and Hispanics" (a book presentation by Earl Ofari Hutchinson
, a well known syndicated columnist)
-"Building the Left in the Age of the Right: Challenging Racism and Empire" (a lecture by Eric Mann, Director of the Labor/Community Strategy Center in Los Angeles
)
-"Vigilante Man: A History of White Violence in California" (a lecture by Mike Davis, (Urban theorist, former McArthur Fellow and Professor of Creative Writing at UC Riverside)
-“The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation” (a book presentation by Leo Chávez, Professor of Anthropology at UC Irvine)
-"Multilingual San Diego: Portraits of Language Loss and Revitalization" (a book presentation by Ana Celia Zentella, Professor of Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego)
-Crossing Borders Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Conference (UC San Diego, 2007)
-The 12th meeting of the Politics of Race, Immigration, and Ethnicity Consortium (UC San Diego, 2008)
-Migrations Across Disciplines Symposium (UC San Diego, 2009)
-Transborder California Digital Mapping Project Workshop (UC San Diego, 2009)
-7th Cultural Studies Seminar, Globalization and Culture: Transnationalism, Cultural Citizenship, and Territoriality (Autonomous University of Baja California, Mexicali, Mexico)
-TransCalifornia Conference (UC San Diego, 2010)
Marisa Abrajano (Political Science)
Emily Colborn-Roxworthy(Theater and Dance)
Mark Jacobsen (Economics)
Eun-Young Jung (Music Department)
Roger Levy (Linguistics)
David E. Pedersen (Anthropology)
Daniel Widener (History)
The budget crisis of 2009 that will change the nature of the entire University of California system will alter the nature of programs such as California Cultures.
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
dedicated to fostering creative and activist interdisciplinary research, teaching, and collaboration among California’s communities, faculty, and students. California – in all its dimensions—is the object of its focus.
Cal Cultures (as it is also known) grew out of a concerted effort to explore new epistemological, conceptual, and methodological challenges created by the diverse demographics of a new and changing California. Central to this effort are the stratified economic conditions, resulting power relations and social formations that have reconfigured California at the nexus of local struggle and global process at the turn of this century.
California is the prism through which the program explores these challenges specifically in the ways they intersect with immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
, cultural production
Cultural production and nationalism
Literature, visual arts, music, and scholarship have complex relationships with ideological forces.-The 19th Century:In the 19th century nationalism was an especially potent influence on all of these fields...
, citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
, democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and diversity
Diversity (politics)
In the political arena, the term diversity is used to describe political entities with members who have identifiable differences in their backgrounds or lifestyles....
. Cal Cultures remaps California within the complexity of global cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
and accentuates the state’s multiple geopolitical borders and transnational frontiers, including Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the Americas, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and the Pacific, and regions represented by emerging diasporic
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
relations such as Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
.
The program's ultimate goal is to foster new dialogue, frameworks and collaborations in research and practice at both the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
and with the broader regional, international and global communities of which all Californians are a part. Cal Cultures emphasizes the need for new and inclusive knowledge and practical engagement. Local communities are not only instrumental in this design but are at the heart of this understanding.
Minor
Cal Cultures offers an undergraduate minorUndergraduate degree
An undergraduate degree is a colloquial term for an academic degree taken by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. It is usually offered at an institution of higher education, such as a university...
. It is similar to other social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
oriented minors at UC San Diego in that its basic requirements lower and upper division courses from departments in the Social Sciences and the Arts & Humanities that relate to the program's mission.
What sets this minor apart from others though is that minor requirements may also be fulfilled with coursework
Coursework
Coursework is the name for work carried out by students at university or middle/high school that contributes towards their overall grade, but which is assessed separately from their final exams. Coursework can, for example, take the form of experimental work, or may involve research in the...
in conjunction with internships at local and community based organizations.
Fellowships
Every year, Cal Cultures gives out fellowFellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
ships to graduate students whose research focuses on questions relevant to California as a major nexus in global and diasporic processes, and that attends to hierarchical, comparative and relational processes inherent in this contemporary condition. This includes research on social movement
Social movement
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
s, the military, boundaries, diverse community history and rapidly changing populations, as well as projects that focus on the literal and metaphorical borders between the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, as well as those that highlight community-based collaborative research methodologies.
Events
Some of the events that Cal Cultures has sponsored or co-sponsored in the past include:-“Understanding the U.S. Addiction to Prisons: From California to Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib prison
The Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad. It was built by British contractors in the 1950s....
” (a lecture by Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Professor of Geography and American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California)
-"The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation Between African-Americans and Hispanics" (a book presentation by Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a journalist, author, and broadcaster.Hutchinson is also the author of nine books about the African American experience. He serves as the President of the National Alliance for Positive Action, and is a contributor to The Huffington Post, Blacknews.com and...
, a well known syndicated columnist)
-"Building the Left in the Age of the Right: Challenging Racism and Empire" (a lecture by Eric Mann, Director of the Labor/Community Strategy Center in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
)
-"Vigilante Man: A History of White Violence in California" (a lecture by Mike Davis, (Urban theorist, former McArthur Fellow and Professor of Creative Writing at UC Riverside)
-“The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation” (a book presentation by Leo Chávez, Professor of Anthropology at UC Irvine)
-"Multilingual San Diego: Portraits of Language Loss and Revitalization" (a book presentation by Ana Celia Zentella, Professor of Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego)
Conferences
In the past, Cal Cultures has also co-sponsored various conferences, including:-Crossing Borders Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Conference (UC San Diego, 2007)
-The 12th meeting of the Politics of Race, Immigration, and Ethnicity Consortium (UC San Diego, 2008)
-Migrations Across Disciplines Symposium (UC San Diego, 2009)
-Transborder California Digital Mapping Project Workshop (UC San Diego, 2009)
-7th Cultural Studies Seminar, Globalization and Culture: Transnationalism, Cultural Citizenship, and Territoriality (Autonomous University of Baja California, Mexicali, Mexico)
-TransCalifornia Conference (UC San Diego, 2010)
Directors
California Cultures in Comparative Perspective is currently headed by Prof. Robert Alvarez (Director), and Prof. Elana Zilberg (Associate Director).Faculty
California Cultures in Comparative Perspective also shares a small number of faculty members with other departments at UC San Diego:Marisa Abrajano (Political Science)
Emily Colborn-Roxworthy(Theater and Dance)
Mark Jacobsen (Economics)
Eun-Young Jung (Music Department)
Roger Levy (Linguistics)
David E. Pedersen (Anthropology)
Daniel Widener (History)
Criticism
Although one of the program's original goals was to increase the number of historically underrepresented faculty (HURM) at UC San Diego, to date the majority of faculty hired through the program is not HURM faculty.The budget crisis of 2009 that will change the nature of the entire University of California system will alter the nature of programs such as California Cultures.