Recent News
ES Major Edwin Majano Villalobos Selected for CSU California Pre-Doctoral Program
Jun 16, 2026
Ethnic Studies Major, Edwin Majano Villalobos, Selected for 2026 CSU California Pre-Doctoral Program
ES Major Edwin Majano Villalobos, June 2026
Ethnic Studies and History double major, Edwin Majano Villalobos, has been selected for the California State University (CSU) California Pre-Doctoral Program for 2026! Edwin's faculty mentor for this program is Ethnic Studies faculty member, Dr. Lydia Heberling. Edwin is one of only two Cal Poly recipients chosen for this year. Congratulations to scholar Edwin and his mentor Dr. Heberling!
The CSU designates these recipients as Sally Casanova Scholars. They receive individualized guidance from a CSU faculty mentor and may also collaborate with faculty at doctoral-granting institutions across the country. The program’s structure helps students strengthen their academic preparation, explore advanced research environments, and gain valuable experience for competitive Ph.D. applications.
These Sally Casanova Scholars join a statewide community of aspiring academics who represent the breadth and excellence of the CSU. This community connects scholars across disciplines and campuses, offering encouragement, collaboration, and professional networking opportunities that often extend well beyond the award year.
Read more about the CSU California Pre-Doctoral Program
ES Faculty Elvira Pulitano Essay in Peer Reviewed International Journal Published
Jun 16, 2026
ES Faculty, Elvira Pulitano, Essay Published: "Whereas We Respond": Layli Long Soldier's Acts of Sovereign Poetics and Indigenous Justice.
ES faculty member Elvira Pulitano, june 2025
Ethnic Studies Professor Elvira Pulitano recently celebrated the publication of her essay in a peer reviewed international journal, "Whereas We Respond": Layli Long Soldier's Acts of Sovereign Poetics and Indigenous Justice. This was published in ECHO: Interdisciplinary Journal of Communication: Languages, Cultures, Societies in a special issue titled, AlterNative Intelligences: Forms and Practices of Global, Indigenous Resurgences 7 in December, 2025. Please view the abstract down below and you can read the full essay on the ECHO linked under. Congratulations, Dr. Pulitano!
Abstract:
In 2009, the United States voted on a Congressional Joint Resolution of Apology to Native Americans. President Barack Obama signed the Apology, which, however, was never delivered to the public nor to representatives of Tribal Nations. The Apology text was later folded into a larger piece of legislation known as the 2010 Defense Appropriations Act. In her 2017 collection of poems WHEREAS, Oglala Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier presents a direct intertextual response to the Congressional Apology. Part II of the collection, also titled “WHEREAS”, adapts the tripartite structure of the Congressional Resolution by including “Whereas Statements”, “Resolutions”, and a “Disclaimer”. Writing as a dual citizen – an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation and a U.S. citizen – Long Soldier exposes the U.S. history of settler colonialism that continues to operate, embedded in the language of the Apology. This essay analyzes Long Soldier’s poetic enunciation as an act of defiance against the empty statements of the Congressional Apology. By excavating and exposing the Apology’s language, Long Soldier makes a decolonial intervention in “the language, crafting, and arrangement of the written document” (Whereas 57) and affirms the enduring presence and resistance of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and beyond.
Placing language and storytelling at the center of her poetic enunciation, Long Soldier frames resistance and resurgence within the everyday existence of Indigenous communities and their never-ending struggle to defend and reclaim their lands. Poem after poem, Long Soldier exposes the empty ritualistic rhetoric of the Congressional Apology that, despite its well-presented message of reconciliation, is void of any gesture amounting to reparations for the hundreds of Indigenous nations living within the borders of the United States. As we enter the second decade since the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the General Assembly in 2007, a landmark document in international law and Indigenous rights, yet still reluctantly accepted by the United States government, which continues to treat it as a non-legally binding text, this essay will also discuss how Long Soldier’s acts of “sovereign poetics” (Mishuana Goeman) can function as an empowering educational tool in the battle to decolonize international human rights law and affirm Indigenous self-determination.
ES Major Zora Sowinska Wins 2026 Academy of American Poets Contest
Jun 9, 2026
Ethnic Studies Major Zora Sowinska wins this year's Academy of American Poets Contest
ES Major zora Sowinska, June 2025 (photo from cal poly english)
Ethnic Studies major, minoring English, Zora Sowinska has won the Academy of American Poets Contest for 2026! She previously won this same award in prior year, 2025. Her winning poem titled, A Foray into the State of Orphanhood, has earned Zora a prize, membership, and will be announced in the Academy's Annual Report.
Presented by the Academy of American Poets, their University and College Poetry Prize program sponsors over two hundred annual poetry prizes at colleges and universities across the U.S, and has awarded cash prizes to nearly ten thousand student poets since the program's inception.
Read more about this on the English Department site here
Read more about the University & College Poetry Prizes
Read more about the Academy of American Poets
Conversation with Author Dr. Dylan Rodríguez & Dr. MT Vallarta, April 28
Apr 20, 2026
Asian American Studies Now: A Conversation with Author & Professor Dr. Dylan Rodríguez and Dr. MT Vallarta
Dylan rodríguez guest talk, 2:10-3:30pm, April 28, 2026 on Zoom (link here)
The Ethnic Studies Department, organized by Assistant Professor Dr. MT Vallarta, will be hosting author and professor Dr. Dylan Rodríguez from the University of California, Riverside, for a dialogue with Dr. Vallarta where they will be discussing the current state of Asian American Studies under fascism and state-sponsored violence. This event is available on Zoom and will take place on April 28th, from 2:10 pm to 3:30 pm with the link and Zoom registration here. Please join us to hear more about this topic and the unfolding conversations!
About Dr. Dylan Rodríguez
Dylan’s lifework focuses on liberationist, anticolonial, and abolitionist confrontations with the antiblack, colonial, and white supremacist violences that permeate the ongoing Civilization project. He is devoted to studying and teaching the historical, collective genius of rebellion, survival, and insurgent futurity that radically challenge dominant forms of authority, power, and institutionality.
Dylan Rodríguez is a teacher, scholar, organizer and collaborator who has worked at the University of California-Riverside since 2001. He is a Distinguished Professor in the recently created Department of Black Study as well as the Department of Media and Cultural Studies. Dylan served as Chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies from 2009-2016, Chair of the UCR Academic Senate from 2016-2020, and has worked as the Co-Director of the UCR Center for Ideas and Society since 2021. As the Co-Director of the Center, he created the Decolonizing Humanism(?) programming stream, which features scholars, artists, and intellectuals based in revolutionary, anti-colonial, and liberationist movements from all over the world. Dylan was elected President of the American Studies Association by his peers in 2020, the same year in which he was named to the inaugural class of Freedom Scholars, a national award program that intends to “recognize the role that Freedom Scholars play in cultivating and nurturing movements for justice and freedom.”
Read about Dr. MT Vallarta from their bio here
Pilipino Cultural Night (PCN) 37 Show, April 24-25
Apr 8, 2026
Pilipino Cultural Exchange Presents Pagkamulat on April 24th and 25th, 2026
Pilipino Cultural Night 37 show, 7-10pm, april 24-25, 2026 at the clark center, arroyo grande, ca
The Pilipino Cultural Night (PCN) Instructionally Related Activity (IRA) and Pilipino Cultural Exchange (PCE) Club will be performing their annual PCN show, Pagkamulat! This event will take place on April 24th and 25th, from 7 pm to 10 pm at the Clark Center in Arroyo Grande, CA. Please see the ticket purchasing link below and coome support PCN & PCE's performance!
Cal Poly’s Pilipino Cultural Night (PCN) is a student-run cultural production that celebrates Pilipino-American heritage through dance, drama, and music. Created over the course of a year, PCN brings students together to showcase their talents and reconnect with their culture.
Pilipino Cultural Exchange (PCE) Website
New ES Topic in Spring 2026: Race in Horror Film and Fiction
Feb 9, 2026
ES 470-01: Race in Horror Film and Fiction Spring 2026 Course Information
ES 470-01: Race in Horror Film and Fiction offered in Spring 2026
The Ethnic Studies Department is offering a new topic in Spring 2026!
ES 470: Race in Horror Film and Fiction examines BIPOC-created cinematic and literary works of horror through the disciplinary lens of ethnic studies, engaging critical perspectives on the genre to analyze how contemporary BIPOC horror invites us to understand racism/colonialism.
Horror has a long history of engaging with social issues. More than that, it's preoccupation with fear and monsters makes it uniquely suited for exploring the norms that govern our society (and the consequences of traversing them) and those deemed "monstrous" in their otherness. But what happens when such "monstrous" others are the ones creating the horror? What can the genre's use of fear help us understand about our society? How does horror grounded in BIPOC histories and lived experiences expose what's truly horrific in the world we live in?
This course will be led by Dr. Anne Jansen, amjansen@calpoly.edu, Lecturer in Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly. Please contact Dr. Jansen if you have any questions about the course.
New ES Topic in Spring 2026: Los Angeles: Race, Culture, and Urbanization
Feb 2, 2026
ES 470: Los Angeles: Race, Culture, and Urbanization Spring 2026 Course Information
ES 470: Los Angeles: Race, Culture, and Urbanization offered in Spring 2026
The Ethnic Studies Department is offering a new topic in Spring 2026!
ES 470: Los Angeles: Race, Culture, and Urbanization introduces students to the philosophical and historical study of urbanization in southern California. By looking at the work of such varied figures as Chester Himes, Raul Villa, and Henri Lefebvre we will take an approach that highlights the conceptual richness of urban everyday life.
This course will be led by Dr. Gabriel Soldatenko, gsoldate@calpoly.edu, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly. Please contact Dr. Soldatenko if you have any questions about the course.
Co-Authors Michael Wilson and José Antonio Lucero Book Talk, Feb 11
Jan 13, 2026
What Side Are You On? A Tohono O'odham Life across Borders
Michael Wilson and José Antonio Lucero's book talk, 4-6pm, feb. 11, 2026 in the atl (007-002)
The Ethnic Studies Department and History Department, organized by Dr. Lydia Heberling, will be hosting co-authors Michael Wilson and professor José Antonio Lucero from the University of Washington for an in-depth talk about their book, What Side Are You On? A Tohono O'odham Life Across Borders (UNC Press).This event will take place on February 11th, from 4pm to 6 pm in the ATL (Bldg. 07, Rm 02). Please join us to hear more about this topic and their book!
About Michael Wilson
Michael Steven Wilson (Tohono O’odham) is a human rights activist, US military retiree, and film documentarian. In May 2024, Mike received an Honorary Doctorate in Divinity from the San Francisco Theological Seminary, now part of the University of Redlands.
About José Antonio Lucero
José Antonio (Tony) Lucero was born in El Paso, Texas and grew up on both sides of the imposed US-Mexico boundary. A graduate of Stanford (BA, Political Science) and Princeton (MA/PhD, Politics) Lucero teaches courses on Indigenous politics, critical university studies, international political economy, research methods, cultural theory, social movements, Latin American politics, and borderlands. Lucero is the author of Struggles of Voice: The Politics of Indigenous Representation in the Andes (University of Pittsburgh Press) and co-author with Mike Wilson of What Side Are You On? A Tohono O'odham Life Across Borders (forthcoming, University of North Carolina Press). He is also co-author of several works with fellow CHID Professor María Elena García (CHID), the most important of which is their son José Antonio Simón (Toño) Lucero-García (future UW Class of 2034).
What Side Are You On, book here
Hosted by the Cal Poly Ethnic Studies department, History department, and the College of Liberal Arts (CLA).
ES Major and Faculty Co-Authored Journal Article Published
Dec 1, 2025
ES Student and Faculty Co-Authored Journal Article: A Decolonial Approach to International Education: Insights from a Cal Poly Global Program in Palermo, Sicily.
ES Major iyad jamaly and ES faculty member Elvira Pulitano, june 2024 (Photo from cal poly OUDI)
Ethnic Studies Major Iyad Kamal Jamaly and Ethnic Studies Professor Elvira Pulitano recently celebrated the publication of their co-authored journal article, A Decolonial Approach to International Education: Insights from a Cal Poly Global Program in Palermo, Sicily. This work was inspired by a BEACoN Research project they previously completed in Winter/Spring 2024 as well as Iyad's participation in the 2023 Global Program Cal Poly in Sicily.
Abstract:
This article presents a critical intervention in the current debates about decolonizing international education. It is based on a Global Program in Palermo, Sicily, offered by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in summer 2023. As both program creator/director and student participant in the program, the authors rely on their personal experience and insights along with expertise in coloniality and decolonial theories. The article focuses on a series of pedagogical activities led by a young group of migrants and refugees who, in the city of Palermo, have come together to form two associations designed and structured to offer new contemporary models of citizenship and belonging. These workshops offered Cal Poly students who participated in the Global Program a tangible lesson of the transformative experience of international education when the power shifts to local experts and communities.
Author Dr. Bayley Marquez Book Talk, Nov 12
Oct 8, 2025
Plantation Pedagogy: The Violence of Schooling Across Black and Indigenous Space
Dr. Bayley Marquez's book talk, 6:30-8pm, Nov. 12, 2025 in baker center (180-114)
The Ethnic Studies Department, organized by Dr. Dallas Donnell, will be hosting author and professor Dr. Bayley Marquez from University of Maryland for an in-depth talk about her groundbreaking new book, Plantation Pedagogy: The Violence of Schooling Across Black and Indigenous Space (UC Press).This event will take place on November 12th, from 6:30pm to 8 pm in Baker Center (Bldg. 180, Rm 114). Please join us to hear more about this topic and her book!
About Dr. Bayley Marquez
Bayley J. Marquez is an Associate Professor in the Department of American Studies, an affiliate faculty with the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Consortium for Race Gender and Ethnicity, and an Indigenous scholar from the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. As an Indigenous scholar, she acknowledges that her work and scholarship takes place on Piscataway land, former plantation land, and within a land grant university funded by the seizure and sale of Indigenous lands. With a focus on space, land, material relations, and schooling, this acknowledgement is necessary to position her work within the structure of settler colonialism and her own lived experiences. Her research interests include settler colonial theory, Indigenous education, Black education, the history of education, abolitionist university studies, and critical ethnic studies. Her academic work is positioned at the intersection of settlement, antiblackness, imperialism and other instantiations of racialized and colonial power.
Her book, Plantation Pedagogy: The Violence of Schooling Across Black and Indigenous Space (UC Press) examines education for Black and Indigenous students in the 19th and 20th centuries and how slavery and settlement were framed as educative processes by white reformers and educators. This form of teaching targeted Native and Black bodies as subjects to transform as well as the land as a target of teaching and transformation, fundamentally altering spaces and lives. This work was generously supported by the Ford Foundation, the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, The Independent Scholarship, Research, and Creativity Award at UMD, the ARHU Junior Faculty Fellowship, the Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues, and the Center for Race and Gender at UC Berkley. Dr. Marquez’s work has been published in American Quarterly, Feminist Formations, and The Dubois Review.
Plantation Pedagogy, book here
Hosted by the Cal Poly Ethnic Studies department and the College of Liberal Arts (CLA).