Social Sciences

 Sylvanna M. Falcón

Education: B.S., Santa Clara University, Marketing; M.A., University of New Mexico, Sociology; Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, Sociology, Women's Studies doctoral emphasis

Dissertation: ‘Where are the Women?’ Transnational Feminist Interventions at the United Nations World Conference Against Racism

Thesis Advisors: Avery F. Gordon, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara; Denise Segura, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Research Topic: The Role of the United Nations Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination on Anti-Racism Efforts in the United States

Mentor: Piya Chatterjee, Professor of Women's Studies, University of California, Riverside

Angela Garcia

Education: B.A., University of California, Berkeley, Anthropology; Ph.D., Harvard University, Social Anthropology

Dissertation: The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Absolution Along the Rio Grande

Thesis Advisor: Arthur Kleinman, Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University

Research Topic: Into Oblivion: Heroin Addiction and Suicide Among Hispanic Women in Northern New Mexico

Mentor: Carole Browner, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles

Jelani K. Mahiri

Education: B.S., Morehouse College, Physics and Spanish; M.A., University of California, Berkeley, Anthropology; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Anthropology

Dissertation: Asphalt Dreams, Concrete Realities: Camelôs and the Struggle for a Space to Work in São Paulo, Brazil

Thesis Advisor: Stanley Brandes, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

Research Topic: Examine the Relationships between Expressive Culture, Ethnic and National Identity, the Body, Power and Public Space as exemplified in Bumba-Meu-Boi Celebrations in Maranháo, Brazil.

Mentor: Olga Nájera-Ramirez, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz

Current Position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Modern Languages & Literature, Montana State University, Bozeman

Kylie Peppler

Education: B.A., Indiana University, Bloomington, Psychology and French; Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, Education

Dissertation: Creative Bytes: Literacy and Learning in the Media Arts Practices of Urban Youth

Thesis Advisors: James S. Catterall, Professor of Education, University of California, Los Angeles; Yasmin B. Kafai, Professor of Education, University of California, Los Angeles

Research Topic: Uncovering Literacies, Disrupting Stereotypes: Media Arts Practices of Youth with (Dis) Abilities

Mentor: Mark Warschauer, Professor of Education, University of California, Irvine

Russell Rodríguez

Education: B.S., Santa Clara University, Anthropology; M.A., Stanford University, Latin American Studies; Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, Anthropology

Dissertation: Cultural Production, Legitimation, and the Politics of Aesthetics: Mariachi Transmission, Practice, and Performance in the United States

Thesis Advisor: Olga Nájera-Ramírez, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz

Research Topic: Musical Transnationality: Binational Cultural Production

Mentor: George Lipsitz, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Kimberly TallBear

Education: B.A., University of Massachusetts, Boston, Community Planning; M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Urban Studies and Planning; Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, History of Consciousness

Dissertation: Native American DNA: Narratives of Origin and Race

Thesis Advisor: James Clifford, Professor of History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz; Donna Haraway, Professor of History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz

Research Topic: Native American DNA: Origins, Ethics, and Governance

Mentor: Charis Thompson, Professor of Gender & Women's Studies and Rhetoric, University of California, Berkeley

Kalindi Vora

Education:B.A., Wesleyan University, Religion and Music; M.A., University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Cultural Anthropology; Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, History of Consciousness

Dissertation: Life, Global Capital, and the Valuing of Indian Labor

Thesis Advisors: James Clifford, Professor of History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz; Neferti Tadiar, Associate Professor of History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz

Research Topic: Transnational Indian Surrogacy and the Global Distribution of Mothering

Mentor: Aihwa Ong, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

Christopher Wetzel

Education: B.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Sociology; M.A., University of California, Berkeley, Sociology; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Sociology

Dissertation: One Spirit, One Nation: The Politics of Potawatomi Cultural Revitalization

Thesis Advisor: Kim Voss, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley

Research Topic: Exploring the Recent Renaissance of Potawatomi National Identity

Mentor: Duane Champagne, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles