D.E. Related Programs at UCD

The Chicana/Latina Research Center is a group of Chicana/Latina and Native American faculty, researchers, and librarians from diverse disciplines whose goal is to encourage and foster the voices of Chicana/Latina and Native American women graduate students through research, analyses and creative works. The C/LRC fosters and supports scholarship on Chicana/Latina issues, including the development of theory, methodology, and pedagogy pertinent to Chicanas and Latinas in contemporary society. We are dedicated to the development and promotion of Chicana/Latina scholars and scholarship on Chicana/Latina issues covering a broad range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary interests. 2221 & 2223 Social Sciences and Humanities Building, UC Davis, 530-752-8882.

The Humanities Institute organizes interdisciplinary research seminars open to graduate students and faculty, and seeks to promote creative exchanges between the humanities, social sciences, and environmental sciences. Many D.E. affiliated faculty working on issues of women or gender are associated with research clusters housed in the Humanities Institute. 227 Voorhies Hall, UC Davis, 530-752-2295. http://dhi.ucdavis.edu/

The Middle East/South Asia Research Cluster was founded in fall 2002 by Suad Joseph with funding from UC Davis' Center for History, Society and Culture and later with co-funding from the UC Davis Humanities Institute. It includes about 35 faculty and graduate students researching and teaching the history, culture, society, economy, anthropology, literature, geography and religion of the Middle East and South Asia. The ME/SA RC is committed to rethinking 19th/20th century "area studies" with new theoretical paradigms addressing state formation, early civilizations, family systems, religions, economies, cultural dynamics, and world systems. The Middle East and South Asia have been in contact throughout history. Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism have been points of connection and conflict; migration of workers has linked economies, and family systems; and the flow of products, peoples and ideas has continually invigorated dynamic exchanges within this area. The region accounts for 14% of the world's land mass, around two billion (30%) of the world's peoples, two-thirds of the world's oil reserves, and a treasure trove of the world's history. The ME/SA Research Cluster meets on a quarterly basis in the evenings in the homes of members. Activities include: Scholarly exchange concerning the research projects of ME/SA members; Planning and sponsoring symposia, conferences, speakers and other activities on campus; supporting the ME/SA Studies Program (http://mesa.ucdavis.edu). Dr. Suad Joseph, Facilitator (sjoseph@ucdavis.edu; http://sjoseph.ucdavis.edu)

The Undergraduate Minor in Sexuality Studies at UC Davis brings together a variety of perspectives from the humanities and social sciences on the study of sexuality, including literature, history, religion, anthropology, law, sociology, and psychology. As such, this field, and the way we approach it, links sexuality to other social and historical formations, insisting on their simultaneity and interdependence. Over the past decade, Sexuality Studies has become increasingly influential in our critical understanding of social formations, political institutions, scientific knowledge, and cultural expressions. Previous formulations of sexuality couch it as either something deeply private and personal or, in the case of sexual minorities such as lesbians and gay men, as a benign aberration of normal physical or psychological development. In doing so, and even with the best of intentions, these paradigms treat sexuality as that which defines who we are as individuals at our very essence or core. Much of the work in the new field Sexuality Studies, by contrast, interrogates contemporary systems of sexual classification, such as heterosexuality and homosexuality, and questions their taken-for-granted or purely biological nature. As a field, Sexuality Studies seeks to contextualize the concept of sexuality by tracing its changing histories, meanings, and effects across different political, scientific, geographic, temporal, and cultural landscapes. The field also examines the ways sexual minorities have produced vibrant cultures, communities and histories that contest their supposed pathology and marginality. At UC Davis, researchers, scholars, and teachers in Sexuality Studies pay particular attention to how related social and historical formations such as gender, race, class, nation, empire and globalization have constituted popular understandings of sexuality. Sponsored by the Women and Gender Studies Program. 2222 Hart Hall, UC Davis. 530-752-8986. https://gsws.ucdavis.edu/sexuality-studies-minor 

The Women's Resources and Research Center (WRRC) provides services, a supportive environment, and resources for campus women-students, staff and faculty at UC Davis. We have an extensive current library collection on feminist theory, gender, sexuality and cultural diversity, ranging from philosophy to poetry, for teaching, research, personal growth/enjoyment. Our career staff consults on campus policy, gender education, self- defense, and academic development, and plan campus community targeted events. Our student interns run peer education programs for the dorms, provide graduate student outreach, and participate in annual programming. Ongoing WRRC programs include the weekly Math Cafe, the Women in Science and Engineering Initiative, and the Ellen Hansen Memorial Prize for the arts. Co-Directors: M. Swain (also Women and Gender Studies) and R. Whitmore. First Floor, North Hall. 530-752-3372 http://wrrc.ucdavis.edu