Ph.D. Candidate with the Interdisciplinary Humanities Graduate Group at the University of California, Merced.
Ph.D. Candidate with the Interdisciplinary Humanities Graduate Group at the University of California, Merced.
Thirsty for Change: A visual Guide to Getting Involved in Water Politics
My comic book is the product of a community-engaged research project. I wrote the storyline for Thirsty for Change to explore themes of environmental justice and the right to clean water and Jazz Diaz’s art brought the script to life. Thirsty for Change is based in a fictional town in rural California to illustrate possibilities in systemic changes to water management through community empowerment.
This comic book is part of a series which features collaborative work with artists funded by the Center for the Humanities and the Henry Luce Foundation.
Water is King—and Here is Its Kingdom: Geospatial Humanities & Changes in the Imperial Valley
This interactive StoryMaps project helps introduce an environmental and labor history to a general audience. It grew from an idea to better visualize events that shaped regional history, and it has helped me better understand how water and labor shape the Imperial Valley.
Support for this project was made possible through a 2019-2020 Mentorship for Digital Humanities Grant from the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI).
UCLA James and Silvia Thayer Short-Term Research Fellowship
Archival research for my dissertation has been supported by a UCLA James and Silvia Thayer Short-Term Research Fellowship. At the UCLA Library Special Collections, I explored photographs, documents, and maps through the Cory Family Papers and Carey McWilliams Papers. Both collections offered information on Imperial Valley water and labor history. If you’re a grad student applying to UCLA’s Thayer Fellowship, please feel free to contact me. I’m happy to help answer any questions that you might have about the application. I would also love to connect if we have similar research interests.
Deep Roots Oral Histories Project
I currently serve as a student researcher for the Deep Roots Oral Histories Project—a community led initiative by the Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee, San Diego State University-Imperial Valley Campus, and Imperial Valley College to document experiences from Black community members in the Imperial Valley. The project’s goal is to propose and implement local policy changes to the County Board of Supervisors to address issues surrounding social inequality in Imperial County.
Through this project, I help contextualize Imperial Valley’s migration and labor history to situate background information for the collection of oral histories.
More information coming Summer 2022.