Social Justice Commons^™

“Thank You For Listening To Us”: Incorporating Community Context And Perspectives Into Sea-Level Rise Adaptation Planning For Fields Landing & King Salmon, California, Clara Riggio

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Fields Landing and King Salmon, California are two low-lying, coastal communities on Humboldt Bay (Wigi). These communities already experience coastal flooding during the highest astronomical tides each year, and flood conditions are expected to worsen as sea levels continue to rise. The Fields Landing & King Salmon (FLKS) Living with Water Project was created as a partnership between Humboldt County departments of Planning & Building and Public Works, along with support from social science researchers at Cal Poly Humboldt, including the author. In Chapter 1, I describe the co-production approach used throughout the project, including analysis of four dilemmas that …

Navigating Liminality: Building Resources For And With Undocumented Students, Yaneyry Delfin Martinez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Rooted in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Liberation Sociology, this project outlines an institutional blueprint for the resources and support systems needed to address the lived realities of undocumented students at Cal Poly Humboldt (CPH). Conducted during the second Trump Administration amidst escalating hostility towards immigrants and attacks on DEI initiatives, this work documents both the structural conditions shaping undocumented students’ lives and the collective resistance that emerged in response. Furthermore, it examines how immigration policy, access to and restrictions on federal and state aid, geographic conditions, and on-campus barriers reproduce and maintain legal liminality within higher education. Grounded in …

Decolonizing Restorative Justice: A Teaching Development Project, Lacy Felice Mitchell

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The coloniality of power serves as a central axis within the matrix of domination that characterizes global capitalist modernity, as Anibal Quijano famously argued. This power is rooted in particular ways of looking, seeing, and understanding social reality, anchored in Eurocentrism as an epistemological paradigm for the hegemonic discourse produced by the West against both internal and external categories of “other.” Such categories still inform the production of knowledge in educational settings. In this project, I engage in a critique of the coloniality of power to explore its implications and potential for critical pedagogical practice within the context of sociology …

Taking A Seat In The Circle: Decolonizing Gender Roles That Argue Against The Participation Of Feminine Bodies At The Big Drum, Juli Suzukawa

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The origins of the Big Drum can be traced back to the 1860s when Tail Feather Woman, a Dakota woman, had a vision of its creation as a tool of resistance. The Big Drum has since expanded and can now be seen at various Indigenous ceremonies and social events. However, there has been controversy regarding the participation of feminine and queer bodies. While reasons for this vary, it has also contributed to harm amongst Indigenous youths that have a more fluid stand on gender identity and may not conform to colonial “gender norms”. In this paper, I will explore how …

"What Power Do We Have?" Community Capacity And Justice In Samoa, California’S Floating Offshore Wind Terminal Development, Lauren Mccall Hart

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Floating offshore wind (OSW) is a relatively novel technology in the United States, which is positioned to play an integral role in California’s decarbonization strategy. Two federal OSW lease areas have been established off the coast of Northern California, and plans are underway to develop supporting port infrastructure, including the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal (HLMT). The proposed HLMT site is adjacent to communities on the Samoa Peninsula of Humboldt Bay, which currently face socio-environmental vulnerabilities and critical infrastructure gaps. The social implications of OSW port development remain poorly understood, particularly in rural and underserved communities. This …

Analyzing Critical Mineral Supply For Lithium-Ion Battery Demand To 2050, Shaely Sullivan

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Battery storage is fundamental in the global initiative to mitigate anthropogenic climate change by decarbonizing the electric power grid and transportation sector. Battery storage stabilizes intermittent energy sources, such as solar and wind, and enables clean transportation through electric vehicles. Lithium-ion batteries are the most widely used battery chemistry globally due to their performance capabilities. Therefore, demand for lithium-ion batteries is projected to increase exponentially over the next several decades, driven by the growth of electric vehicles. This thesis projects global demand for electric vehicles and stationary storage, to assess the supply risks for critical minerals essential to lithium-ion batteries. …

Amplifying Counterstories And Testimonios About Latine Rural Youth: A Case Study Of The Educational Experience Of Oaxacan-American Youth In Rural Humboldt County, Lorena Cortez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

As the Latine community has increased in rural Humboldt County and in rural regions across the country, educators and researchers have struggled to address the needs of this student population. These challenges are reinforced by deficit perspectives that frame multicultural and multilingual student populations as “culturally lacking” or as “English learners”. Such narratives continue to drive policy in the K-12 education system and contribute to persistent inequities; Latine students represent the lowest educational attainment across other rural student populations (Sansone, 2023, p.60). To challenge these deficit narratives, this research applies a LatCrit methodological framework to create testimonios, a form of …

Changing Perspectives In California: A Transformative Culture Exchange For Stockholm University And Sonoma State University Criminology Students, Bryan Burton, Sofie Hellmer, Vida Wåhlmark, Hope Ortiz, Diana Grant

csuglobalaction

From June 13 to 20, 2024, Sonoma State University (SSU) hosted 16 criminology students from Stockholm University (SU) for an educational and cultural exchange. Five SSU undergraduate “student ambassadors” participated, representing California and SSU while assisting the Swedish students. Surveys indicated the exchange was a meaningful academic and cultural experience for all participants. The Swedish students deepened their understanding of the U.S. criminal justice system through presentations by criminologists and discussions with practitioners on issues such as policing and prison reform. They also gained broader perspectives on California and the United States through interactions with SSU ambassadors and visits to …

K'Iwinya'n-An:N (Acorn Eater), Sunsara C. Sutton

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Overfishing, Pluto Bowen

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Artist Statement, Annette Moulay

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

The Day That Suspended Time And Space And Carceral Walls Smelled Like A Salmon Pit, Crane Conso

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Poem

Manifesto For Seeds, Tatiana Patino Madriaga

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Poem

Revival And Survival, Armando Peña

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Poem

Art And Poetry, Tori Mcconnell, Kimora Van Pelt, Michaela Rain

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Soaring Beyond The Pines & Indigenizing Higher Education, Mckinley Mcpherson

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Rou Dalagurr Native Council Youth Voices Leading Curriculum Change, Cutcha Risling Baldy

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Building a Health Curriculum Lesson for Grades 9-12 in the Native American Studies Model Curriculum for California

Grandma's Plate, Maudesty Merino

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Youth Council Interview, Alana Moseley, Destinlee Mendez

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Food for Indigenous Futures has put together a Youth Council which is an opportunity for both youth and facilitators of the lab to collaborate. This is a space in which youth can develop leadership skills, have a platform for their voices to be heard, and advocate for positive change. There are a total of 13 youth on the Council within the age range of 15-26 years old. The wider Food for Indigenous Futures Programs has served over 2,000 youth. Activities have included Listening Sessions, Traditional Meal Sharing, Gathering Trips, Food Preservation Classes, and Conferences. program. As the program comes to …

Youth Voices I Youth Futures Food For Indigenous Futures & The Native Youth Council

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Includes images and drawings by Michaela Rain Ward (Hoopa Valley Tribe)

Canciones De Resistencia, Chelsea Rios Gomez

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Playlist

'Farming Is Medicine: The Deep Medicine Circle And Food Sovereignty On Ohlone Land', Sangeeta Sarkar

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Film review

'Lwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions And Science', Covin Sigala

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Book review

Nourishing The Soul: Indigenous-Owned And Rooted In The Land Of The Yocha Dehe, Chelsea Rios Gomez

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Restaurant review

Growing Relations With Remagination Farm, Paul Michael L. Atienza

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

An electronic message exchange between Dr. Robyn Rodriguez, co-founder of the Remagination Farm, and Dr. Paul Michael L. Atienza, assistant professor of Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Campesino World-Building: Stories Of Migration, Memory, And Care In The Tension Of The Colonial Frame, Chelsea Ríos Gómez

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Campesinos, often reduced to the label of “farmworkers”, are too often seen only through the lens of their labor within profit-driven systems. This thesis disrupts that limited narrative by illuminating the rich, expansive nature of vivencias campesinas, ways of being that transcend capitalist measures of value. These vivencias are lived, embodied experiences rooted in campesino lifeways, encompassing cultural, spiritual, and relational practices that nurture and sustain life.

My research is guided by four central questions: (1) In what ways have campesinos in pixley resisted exploitative labor systems, and how can this resistance be understood as a form of care labor? …

Place-Based Learning Practices: Institutional Responsibilities, Karley Rojas

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

The 'Place-Based Learning Practices Project' (PBLP) is a graduate project under the Native American Studies Department Rau Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute (FSL). Making contributions at the intersection of Western academia and Indigenous science, it imagines and realizes content, policies, and protocols surrounding two case studies and the larger cal poly humboldt (cph) institution which respect, honor, and uplift Indigenous sovereignty and resurgence in partnership with the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe and the greater regional tribal community. Encompassing two projects internal and external to the institution, I aim to address the construction of controlled and protective …

''Thanks For The [Land] Acknowledgement, Now What?'': Settler Histories And Decolonial Futures At Cal Poly Humboldt's Schatz Tree Farm, Sangeeta Sarkar

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

As California's newest polytechnic university, Cal Poly Humboldt is often lauded for its Indigenous-­facing programming and commitments to Indigenous peoples. In recent years, Native American Studies faculty, staff, and students, alongside Indigenous community partners, have led conversations about Cal Poly Humboldt meaningfully supporting tribal sovereignty by returning land to Native nations. As Cutcha Risling Baldy summarized in a research interview, "Thanks for the [land] acknowledgement, now what?" (2024, personal interview). However, though Cal Poly Humboldt has made various land acknowledgements and references to Indigenous peoples in its university policies, conversations about #LandBack have been met with resistance from the university. …

Foreword, Cutcha R. Baldy, Karley Rojas

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.