CSRC Research Grants, 2009-2010

EL BEISBOL: THE STORY OF LATINOS IN BASEBALL

Principal Investigator: A.P. Gonzalez, UCLA Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media
 
Professor Gonzalez expanded his ongoing research on Latinos’ involvement in baseball, focusing on questions of race/ethnicity and racial mix. The research contributed to a documentary on Latinos in baseball that is being developed by Professor Gonzalez.
 
A.P. Gonzalez Visits the Dominican Republic, November 20, 2009 (PDF)
 

UNDERSTANDING THE BREAST CANCER EXPERIENCE IN ETHNICALLY DIVERSE WOMEN: A PREDICTIVE MODEL

Principal Investigator: Betina Yanez, UCLA Department of Psychology
 
This project proposed the use of qualitative methodology to identify ethnic and cultural mechanisms and their relationship to psychological factors that have an influence on health outcomes. The focus of the study was on the experiences of white and Latina women with breast cancer.
 

A NEW DICTIONARY OF VALLEY ZAPOTEC

Principal Investigator: Pamela Munro, UCLA Department of Linguistics
 
The original Zapotec dictionary, co-authored by Munro, was published by CSRC in 1999. Professor Munro’s revision will add words, correct errors, and incorporate a new user-friendly spelling system that has been used successfully in Zapotec classes at UC San Diego and UCLA. Additional funding was requested from an external source to print and distribute the revised edition. The new dictionary is expected to facilitate the study of Oaxacan languages and culture (for example, in the Zapotec courses offered through the UCLA Latin American Institute). It will also be of value to Zapotec-speaking immigrants in Los Angeles and for projects dealing with Native American issues.
 

LOW WAGE WORKERS AND LABOR UNION LAW VIOLATION IN LOS ANGELES

Principal Investigador: Ruth Milkman, UCLA Department of Sociology
 
This project addressed a most timely issue: violation of U.S. labor law as it affects vulnerable populations in Los Angeles. There were no reliable data on the magnitude of this problem, neither in terms of the industries where violations occur nor in terms of who is most affected. In fact, most government surveys tend to miss the type of workers that will be included in this study: undocumented Latinos, ex-felons, and the homeless. Results derived from this study have the potential to have a tremendous impact in the policy realm.
 

LIDERES CAMPESINAS: TRANSNATIONAL MIGRANT ORGANIZING STRATEGIES

Principal Investigator: Maylei Blackwell, UCLA César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies
 
Labor groups representing immigrant women are grossly understudied, yet an understanding of local labor groups is crucial for evaluating the larger processes associated with globalization, such as mass migration and the establishment of transnational labor rights. This study examined the experiences of women in Lideres Campesinas, a statewide organization that works with women farm workers in California. This project’s ethnographic approach is elicitting the voices of individuals, their values, and their motivations, enabling a portrayal of grassroots labor groups. The study has showed how these negotiations with different hegemonic structures are creating new diasporic subjectivities (i.e., subjective transnationalism).
 

ON THE SHOULDERS OF GENERATIONS: THE BROWN BERETS OF AZTLÁN IN THE LONG CIVIL RIGHTS ERA

Principal Investigator: Milo Alvarez, PhD Student, UCLA Department of History
 
Although the Brown Berets was the biggest and most geographically extensive Chicano group in the civil rights era, very little research has been done on the group or its impact. This project framed the Brown Berets as distinctive from other social movements during the 1960s and 1970s. Mr. Alvarez used a historiographical perspective to assess the Brown Berets’ brand of Chicano nationalism and how it was rooted in a long tradition of Mexican American political customs. The study incorporated data from previously conducted interviews with former Brown Berets and draw on material from a variety of sources: FBI archives, public archives, personal archives, speeches, posters, and so on. The emphasis on oral histories was particularly well-suited for this project since many Brown Berets were subjected to government surveillance.
 

“PROTECTING AND SERVING OUTCAST COMMUNITIES”: CHICANA/O PERFORMANCE AND PERFORMATIVITY IN CHICANO SECRET SERVICE TEATRO

Principal Investigator: Lauren Mason, PhD student, Applied Linguistics
 
This study highlighted the critical social commentary that is integral to the sketch comedy of Chicano Secret Service, a Chicano comedy troupe. This project, a multidimensional examination of language, identity, and performance, analyzed videotaped performances and audience reactions, field notes made during events, reflection notes made after events, and records of spoken communications. It contributed to the field of creative Chicano cultural production and the growing body of multi-layered, multi-site ethnographies, which, by giving a voice to the research participant, moves away from analyst-centered research.
 

HOMEOWNERSHIP AND WEALTH AMONG MEXICAN AMERICANS

Principal Investigator: Vilma Ortiz, UCLA Department of Sociology
 
This project used longitudinal and inter-generational data from the Mexican American Study Project (MASP), a CSRC-based study headed by Professors Vilma Ortiz and Edward Telles. This study, an important extension of the larger project, had examined data dealing with homeownership and wealth among Mexican Americans. It shed light on the relationships among several economic indicators, particularly the extent to which financial status and occupational status are related. Moreover, it critically assessed generational and assimilation issues and their significance to the economic status of Mexican Americans. Together, these evaluations are permitting a detailed examination of the economic status of Mexican Americans.
 

RIDING THE YELLOW BUS IN A POST-BROWN ERA: EXPERIENCES OF MEXICAN-ORIGIN STUDENTS IN A RACIALLY INTEGRATED SUBURBAN SCHOOL SETTING

Principal Investigator: Ofelia Huidor, PhD student, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
 
Description: This project examined the reasoning and the process by which Mexican-origin students and their parents decide to travel out of predominantly Latino communities into suburban, predominantly white schools via the LAUSD’s Permits with Transportation (PWT) program, a voluntary busing program. The study drew on resistance theory and the sociocultural dimension of schooling and employ a qualitative methodology to focus on participants’ perspectives and accurately represent their responses.
 

TRENCHES UNDER THE PIPELINE: UNDERSTANDING THE CHICANO MALE CONTINUATION HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE

Principal Investigator: Maria Malagon, PhD Student, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
 
Description: Critical race theory and Chicana feminist epistemology provided the framework for this study of Chicano males in continuation schools. Although often ignored, this population comprises one-tenth of high school students and one-fifth of students in eleventh and twelfth grades. Traditionally, research on this population has been framed by a perceived cultural deficit, which in effect associates the behavior of at-risk students with their minority status. This project instead used oral histories to identify the institutional barriers that contribute to the low academic attainment of Chicano continuation students.
 

SUENOS INDOCUMENTADOS: THE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF UNDOCUMENTED CHICANAS IN CALIFORNIA HIGHER EDUCATION

Principal Investigator: Lindsey Perez Huber, PhD Student, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
 
Description: This project examined the critical issue of undocumented students in public higher education, looking in particular at how race, class, gender, and immigration status intersect in this context. This project was identified as having the potential to illuminate the struggle that undocumented students experience while they navigate educational waters and to contribute significantly to the public policy debate that surrounds this issue.