Accomplishments
Four sociology majors presented research conducted in their fieldwork class at the Pacific Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference in April 2014. The students- Josh Powell, Diolinda Asuncion'Gushea, Alicia Calhoun and Laticia Franklyn - each completed an internship with a community based organization and analyzed the ways that sociological concepts played out in their field sites. Alison Hope Alkon mentored the students in their research and presentations.
Alison Hope Alkon's article "Food Justice and the Challenge to Neoliberalism." was published in Gastronomica in 2014.
Alison Hope Alkon and her graduate student Josh Cadji (UC Davis) published "'One day, the white people are going to want these houses again:' Understanding gentrification through the North Oakland Farmers Market." in the edited volume Incomplete Streets.
Ethel Nicdao, Sociology, served as faculty mentor/advisor to Pacific Sociology students who presented their research at undergraduate roundtables at the Pacific Sociological Association conference in Portland, OR (March 28, 2014):
- Katelyn Docherty ('15) presented "Clinical Social Work in a Hospital Setting: Examining what Clinical Social Workers Provide that other Medical Staff Cannot"
- Deyanire Del Toro ('14) presented "Cultural Competence among White Social Workers: Detrimental Effects on Culturally Diverse Clientele"
Alison Hope Alkon, Sociology, co-authored "Foodways of the Urban Poor," which was accepted for publication in Geoforum.
Sociology undergraduate students presented their research at the 40th Annual Western Undergraduate Research Conference, Santa Clara University. Ethel Nicdao served as their faculty mentor/advisor.
- Katelyn Docherty '15 presented "A Literary Review on the Effect of Socio-Economic Status on Childhood Obesity in the United States"
- Alixandria Henley '13 and Deyanire Del Toro '14 presented "The Influences of Television and Movies on Masculinity: The Development of Eating Disorders among Men"
- Brenda Cordero '15 presented "Observing Potential Uses of Community Resources towards the Promotion of Racial Integration within Chevy Chase, Md."
Alison Hope Alkon, Sociology, presented the paper "Food Justice, Food Sovereignty and the Challenge of Neoliberalism" at Yale University's Agrarian Studies Conference.
Alison Hope Alkon, Sociology, gave an invited lecture on her book, Black White and Green: Farmers Markets, Race and the Economy, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
George Lewis, Emeritus, Sociology, had his 2000 Journal of Popular Culture article "From Minnesota Fat to Seoul food: Spam in America and the Pacific Rim," cited and used extensively as a resource in a recent New York Times article, "In South Korea, Spam Is the Stuff Gifts Are Made of."
Alison Hope Alkon, Sociology, gave the invited talk "Food Justice, Farmers Markets and the Green Economy," based on her book, Black White and Green: Farmers Markets, Race, and the Green Economy," at UC Santa Cruz.
Alison Alkon, sociology, had her article "Food Sovereignty in US Food Movements: Radical Visions and Neoliberal Constraints," co-authored with Teresa Mares from University of Vermont, accepted in the journal Agriculture and Human Values. In addition, her newly edited volume Cultivating Food Justice: Race Class and Sustainability (originally released by MIT Press in October 2011) released a second printing in January 2012, and her monograph, Black, White and Green: Farmers Markets, Race and the Green Economy, was accepted for publication by University of Georgia Press (to be released in early 2013). She also gave two invited talks: "Cultivating Food Justice" at Tufts University Freeman School of Nutrition and "Race, Class, and the Politics of Food" at Saint Mary's College.
George Lewis, Sociology, has been informed his article "Don't Go Down Waikiki: Social Protest and Popular Music in Hawaii" will appear in Music and Social Protest Since 1900, forthcoming this year from Ashgate Press in their Popular and Folk Music series.
Alison Alkon, Sociology, had her article "Food Sovereignty in US Food Movements: Radical Visions and Neoliberal Constraints," co-authored with Teresa Mares from University of Vermont, accepted in the journal Agriculture and Human Values.
Alison Alkon's co-edited volume Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability was released by MIT Press in the Fall of 2011. It sold out quickly and a second printing was released in Winter 2011.
Alison Alkon's book Black, White and Green: Race, Farmers Markets and the Green Economy was accepted for publication by University of Georgia Press. It will be released in early 2013.
Ethel Nicdao has been accepted as a participant scholar for the NIMHD Translational Health Disparities Course: Integrating Principles of Science, Practice and Policy in Health Disparities Research, which will take place this summer in Bethesda, Maryland. She has also received a $1,000 travel stipend from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's New Connections Programming to attend the AcademyHealth Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.
Alison Alkon, along with student Brianna Gall '11, had "Whose Misery: White Privilege in Stockton, CA" published on the blog Sociological Images. Dr. Alkon attended the annual conference of the Association of American Geographers, where she presented the paper "Reflexivity and Environmental Justice Scholarship: A Role For Feminist Methodologies" and organized and served as discussant for a panel called "Researching food justice: re-imagining food spaces and (in)justices in both practice and theory." She was also a participant in the National Science Foundation's Health Equities Institute.
Marisela Ramos (History), Jennifer Helgren (History), Marcia Hernandez (Sociology), Tomomi Kinukawa (History), and Corrie Martin (Women's Center) participated in a panel "Pedagogy Repossessed: The Perils of (Not) Teaching about Racism and Sexism" at the National Association of Ethnic Studies Conference in Claremont, California. The participants, who discussed the opportunities and challenges of teaching and learning ethnic studies, acknowledge the support of the Assistant Provost of Diversity, Gender Studies Program, Ethnic Studies Program, and the Women's Center in sponsoring their participation in the panel.
Dr. Alkon Presents on Urban Agriculture
Alison Hope Alkon participated on a panel on urban agriculture at the California Studies Association's conference Food Fights: Popular Struggles Beyond California Cuisine. She also gave a talk titled "Race, Farmers Markets and the Green Economy" at Stanford University's lecture series, The Environment in Context.
Dr. Lewis Has Article and Essay Published
George Lewis had his article "Along the Dim Atlantic Line: Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series (Of Dreams)" published by Popular Music and Society, Vol 32, #2. His essay, "Remembering Ray Browne," will appear in Essays In Honor Of Ray Browne, edited by Gary Burns, as part of the Popular Culture Association's Occasional Papers Series.
Dr. Nicdao Active With Pacific Sociological Association
Ethel Nicdao and Nabeel Cajee '11 presented "Your Blood is Sweet": Sociocultural Narratives of Southeast Asians with Type 2 Diabetes at the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association, March 10-13, 2011 in Seattle, WA. Dr. Nicdao has been appointed to serve as a member of the Pacific Sociological Association's Endowment Committee, and she has also been invited to serve on the Advisory Board of Sacramento Asian American Minority, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Recent Faculty Publications
Sociology professor Marcia Hernandez and Harriett Arnold (Benerd College) had their co-authored article, "The Harvest is Plentiful but the Laborers are Few: An Interdisciplinary Examination of Career Choice and African American Sororities," accepted for publication in the Journal of African American Studies.
Alison Alkon had her article "Whiteness in Farmers Markets: Performances, Perpetuations... Contestations" published in Antipode this summer.
George Lewis had his article "The Maine That Never Was: The Construction of Popular Myth in Regional Culture" posted online as one of two essays comprising the University of Maine's Distance Education and Maine Studies Program section on Writers About Maine and Maine Literature.
Drs. Hernandez and Lewis to Have Education-Related Materials Published
Marcia Hernandez had her chapter "Negotiating Student Expectations and Interpretations of Service-Learning" accepted for inclusion in the forthcoming book Democratic Dilemmas of Teaching Service Learning: Curricular Strategies for Success (Stylus Publishing). George Lewis has had curricular materials for his Social Research Methods course selected by the American Sociological Association for digital publication in their TRAILS (Teaching, Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology) online series.
Dr. Alkon Presents at American Sociology Association Conference
Alison Hope Alkon presented "Food Justice, A Fertile Field" at the American Sociology Association's national conference in Atlanta, Georgia. She also presided over the session "Science, Technology, and the Struggle for Human Rights."