Recent News
ES Alumni and Student Awarded at ¡Viva Los Mustangs!
Oct 14, 2024
¡Viva Los Mustangs! Awards Celebrates ES Alumni Jeremiah and ES Major Mariana
ES Alumni Jeremiah Hernandez and Es major mariana perez, oct. 12, 2024
Ethnic Studies Alumni Jeremiah Hernandez and Ethnic Studies Major Mariana Perez were both recognized during the Viva Los Mustangs! award ceremony on October 12th, 2024.
Presented by the Cal Poly Chicanx/Latinx Faculty/Staff Association (CLFSA), the awards recognize a student, staff person, faculty member, and alum for their significant contributions to the Chicanx/Latinx communities at Cal Poly.
The Cal Poly Alumni — Latinx Community came together on Oct. 12 to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a special reception at the Cal Poly Alumni House, and celebrated the awardees during the halftime of Cal Poly Men's Soccer match vs UC Riverside.
From the CLFSA awards:
Student Award
Mariana Perez is an Ethnic Studies major who is dedicated to justice and equity and shows up for the Latinx community consistently and fearlessly. Mariana has been a learning assistant for EOP’s summer institute, and she also worked as the Poly Cultural Weekend Coordinator. She is a rugby athlete, and her nominator shared that “She is a leader in all of her classes, an excellent student, and a person who serves the Latinx and Chicanx communizes with deep care.”
Staff Award
Jeremiah Hernandez is a Cal Poly graduate, and as a student he worked as an assistant in Ethnic Studies and in EOP. He currently serves as the coordinator for La Casa. Jeremiah had 3 faculty members nominate him for this award. One shared, “His service to the Latinx community is remarkable and I cannot imagine a better person to receive this award.”
Indigenous Surfers’ Symposium: Oct. 9-11
Sep 20, 2024
Surf Sovereignty: Coastal Stewardship, Embodied Activism, and Indigenous Wave Riders
events occurring October 9, 10, and 11, 2024
Surf Sovereignty: Coastal Stewardship, Embodied Activism, and Indigenous Wave Riders is a three-day event that will draw Indigenous surfers, coastal stewards, and activists together from across the Pacific for a series of events focused on art as activism and coastal conservation and climate futures for Indigenous nations. This event is collaboratively organized by Cal Poly Ethnic Studies professor Lydia Heberling and Simon Fraser University professor, Nicholas Reo (Canada Excellent Research Chair in Coastal Relationalities and Regeneration).
All events take place October 9-11, 2024, schedule listed below.
Schedule of Events:
Wednesday, October 9th
“‘Whose Waters?’: Indigenous Surfers Reflecting on Art and Sovereignty”: panel discussion
San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, 5:30 - 7 PM
SLOMA Link, here.
Thursday, October 10th
Open Surf Session and Surfrider Beach Cleanup
lisamu (Morro Rock), 8 - 10 AM
“How Can I Be a Good Ally for Indigenous Coastal Stewards?”: A Conversation with Cal Poly’s Surfrider Club
Cal Poly Plant Conservatory, 11 AM - 12 PM (lunch provided from 12 - 1 PM)
Friday, October 11th
Open Surf Session
Pismo Beach, 8 - 10 AM
SLO County Surf Break Mapping Project
CANCELLED- will be rescheduled!
Please contact Dr. Lydia Heberling, lheberli@calpoly.edu, for further information or if you have any questions.
Hosted by the Cal Poly Ethnic Studies department with support from Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business, Cal Poly's Bailey College, Cal Poly’s Office of University Diversity and Inclusion, San Diego State University’s Surf/Skate Collaborative, and San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg, and Benny’s Pizzeria.
New ES Topic in Fall 2024: Surfing and Empire in the Pacific
Aug 8, 2024
ES 470: Surfing and Empire in the Pacific Fall 2024 Course Information
ES 470: Surfing and Empire in the Pacific offered in Fall 2024
The Ethnic Studies Department is offering a new topic in Fall 2024!
ES 470: Surfing and Empire in the Pacific examines the entangled relationships between modern surfing, Indigenous practices of wave riding, and empire building in the Pacific. Grounded in cultural works, this course interrogates how surfing reenacts neocolonial forms of power and Indigenous dispossession in the Pacific.
This course will be led by Dr. Lydia Heberling, lheberli@calpoly.edu, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly. Please contact Dr. Heberling if you have any questions about the course.
ES Mentored BEACoN Research Projects 2024
Jun 10, 2024
ES Faculty mentored projects: A Decolonial Approach to International Education: Insights from a Cal Poly Global Program in Palermo, Sicily & The Unspoken Journey: Postpartum Mental Health of Black Male Parents
ES student/mentee Iyad Kamal Jamaly, and ES faculty member/mentor elvira pulitano, june 2024 (Photo from cal poly OUDI)
Ethnic Studies Major Iyad Kamal Jamaly and Ethnic Studies Professor Elvira Pulitano recently completed their BEACoN Research project titled, "A Decolonial Approach to International Education: Insights from a Cal Poly Global Program in Palermo, Sicily".
This project aims to produce a study contributing to the current debates about decolonizing international education. Based on the Global Program, “Language and Culture in Sicily”, led by Dr. Pulitano in Palermo, Sicily, offered by Cal Poly in the Summer of 2023, the study 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 a tangible lesson of the transformative experience of international education when the power shifts to local experts and communities.
Mentee Iyad Kamal Jamaly, and mentor Elvira Pulitano at the 2024 BEACoN Research Symposium, June 12th 2024
Psychology Major Nailah DuBose and Ethnic Studies Assistant Professor Dan Castilow completed their BEACoN Research project titled, "The Unspoken Journey: Postpartum Mental Health of Black Male Parents".
Their research specifically explores the postpartum physical and mental health outcomes of male partners. Given the well-documented racial disparities in healthcare, this research project seeks to address the causes of these disparities in Black male postpartum healthcare. Their research investigates the impact of socio-cultural stereotypes about Black masculinities, mental health, and access to healthcare. They ask, how do racialized and gendered tropes affect access to mental health treatment for male-identified parents? In what ways do gender scripts and social stigmas present in Black communities contribute to male partners‚ choices to seek mental healthcare? This time, they conducted another literature review to identify any updates in the existing literature surrounding this topic. Ultimately, this project aims to determine if access to postpartum healthcare for Black men not only affects male parents but also whether barriers to healthcare access have implications for child development.
Link to Cal Poly OUDI Page - Jamaly and Pulitano
Link to Cal Poly OUDI Page - DuBose and Castilow
Ethnic Studies Students and Faculty Create Indigenous Campus Walking Tour
Apr 4, 2024
ES students lead a walking tour project that highlights the Indigenous history on campus
ES student Amy Contreras, and ES faculty members Lydia Heberling and Becca Lucas on the Indigenous walking tour with students, March 2024 (Photo from cal poly news)
Ethnic Studies students Amy Contreras and Sophie Martyrossian led a project developed as a BEACoN and SURP Research Project, that began in 2023, to create a campus walking tour that highlights the Indigenous history, of the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini (ytt) Northern Chumash tribe, on the land that the Cal Poly campus resides on. The project's advisors were Ethnic Studies faculty members, Lydia Heberling, lheberli@calpoly.edu, and Becca Lucas, relucas@calpoly.edu, who is a member of the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region.
You can read further information about the completed project as featured in an article on Cal Poly News, here, and take the virtual walking tour, here. Please contact project advisor's Lydia Heberling and Becca Lucas to schedule a guided in-person tour, obtain a printed booklet for a self-guided tour, or any further questions.
At Cal Poly, we acknowledge that the land on which our university sits carries the heritage of the Indigenous People of San Luis Obispo County and Region, the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini, Northern Chumash Tribe.
Ethnic Studies in Hawai‘i Program in Summer 2024
Feb 21, 2024
ES and EPaCE in Hawai'i Program and Courses Information
ES 322: Asian Americans in Popular Culture and ES 340: Cultural Production and Ethnicity--Pacific Islander Studies offered in hawai'i, summer 2024
The Ethnic Studies in Hawai'i program is a 5-week, 8-unit immersive academic experience in Honolulu during Summer 2024. In this program, students will be challenged to re-think popular ideas about the Hawaiian Islands through a consideration of how the colonial circumstances in Hawaiʻi shape the experiences of Native Hawaiians and the diverse communities that live there today. The program includes service-learning opportunities through the University of Hawaiʻi, field trips to learn about Native Hawaiian history and representation, Hula and ‘Ori Tahiti dance workshops, and guest lectures by Hawaiʻi-based scholars. The required courses include ES 322, Asian Americans in Popular Culture and ES 340, Cultural Production and Ethnicity--Pacific Islander Studies.
This program will be led by Dr. Ryan Buyco, rbuyco@calpoly.edu, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly. The program fulfills GE Upper Division C & D requirements.
Financial Aid and Scholarships Information for Study Abroad Programs
The Poetics Of Fire: A Book Launch and Talk by Victor M. Valle on Feb 22
Jan 31, 2024
ES Emeritus Victor M. Valle will present his new book and lead discussion
The poetics of fire: metaphors of chile eating in the borderlands by Victor M. Valle, Published by University of New mexico press (nov 2023)
Beyond Baroque hosted L.A. Book Launch with Victor Valle and journalist Patricia Escarcega
Cal Poly Magazine article with Victor Valle over his preparation and research for this book
Capital & Main interview with Victor Valle, May 2024
Film Screening of Manzanar, Diverted And Panel Discussion on Feb 22
Jan 31, 2024
Film screening of Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust followed by panel discussion featuring filmmaker Ann Kaneko
Panel discussion after the film featuring Ann Kaneko, Noah Williams, and Hana Maruyama, on feb 22
A film screening of Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust will take place on Feb. 22 from 6 - 8 PM in the ATL (007-02) and will feature a panel discussion afterwards with guests, Ann Kaneko, Noah Williams, and Hana Maruyama. This event recognizes the annual Day of Remembrance, Feb. 19th.
The 2021 film, Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, in Manzanar, is an inspired and poetic portrait of a place and its people, and follows intergenerational women from three communities who defend their land, their history and their culture from the insatiable thirst of Los Angeles. In this fresh retelling of the LA water story, Native Americans, Japanese-American WWII incarcerees, and environmentalists form an unexpected alliance to preserve Payahuunadü (Owens Valley), “the land of flowing water.”
About our speakers:
Ann Kaneko is a filmmaker who is known for her personal films that weave her intimate aesthetic with the complex intricacies of political reality. An Emmy Award winner, her poetic feature Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust premiered at the 2021 Big Sky Film Festival and broadcast on PBS POV’s 2022 line up. She has screened internationally and been commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Endowment and the Skirball Cultural Center. She is currently in development on a food docuseries for MTV Films/Smithsonian Channel and 45/45 a personal film about the beginning and end of life. Her other credits include A Flicker in Eternity; Against the Grain: An Artist’s Survival Guide to Perú; Overstay and 100% Human Hair. She was a Fulbright, Japan Foundation Artist, Film Independent Doc Lab and Jackson Wild Multicultural Alliance fellow. She currently teaches Media Studies at Pitzer College.
Noah Williams is the Water Program Coordinator for the Big Pine Paiute Tribe and the vice-chair for the Tribal Advisory Committee for the California Environmental Protection Agency. Noah is a Bishop Tribal member who grew up on the Bishop Reservation in Payahuunadu.
Hana Maruyama (she/her/hers) is an assistant professor in history and Asian and Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut. She completed her PhD in American Studies at the University of Minnesota. During that time, she co-produced/hosted the podcast "Campu" on Japanese American Incarceration during World War II and was a research fellow for American Public Media’s "Order 9066". Before returning to graduate school, she worked for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center. She is a yonsei (fourth generation Japanese American) descended from the Heart Mountain, Jerome, and Gila River concentration camps on her father’s side.
Ethnic Studies Study Abroad Program in Mexico City in Summer 2024
Dec 7, 2023
ES New Study Abroad Program in Mexico City for Summer 2024 Courses Information
ES 323 Latinas/os in Popular Culture and ES 340 Latinx Cultural Production offered in Mexico City, summer 2024
The Cal Poly in Mexico City: Ethnic Studies program is a 5-week, 8-unit immersive academic experience in Mexico's capital. This new program launches in Summer 2024 and will be offered annually. Students will explore Mexico's history and arts and their influence on Mexican American/Chicano history and arts from their Indigenous roots to the present day. The required courses include ES 323, Latinas/os in Popular Culture, and ES 340, Latinx Cultural Production.
This program is led by Prof. José Navarro, jnavar17@calpoly.edu.
Through classroom learning and hands-on activities, students will get a grasp on Mexico's intricate historical and cultural impacts on the U.S. and the significant contributions of its diverse communities to Mexican and American language, culture, and identity. This program includes engagements with local artists, visits to heritage sites like Teotihuacán and visits to sites that house the many murals painted by renowned artists like Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siquieros.
Financial Aid and Scholarships Information for Study Abroad Programs
Registration for American Indian Studies for K-12 Educators Open
Dec 5, 2023
ES S410 American Indian Studies for K-12 Educators is now open for registration
ES S410 American Indian Studies for K-12 Educators, taught by Lydia Hebering, is part of a 4-part series of accredited courses in Comparative Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly, geared toward K-12 educators.
Cal Poly Extended Education Website
For more information, please contact Dr. Grace Yeh, gyeh@calpoly.edu
