Posts

Juan Herrera - Cartographic Memory

New book “Cartographic Memory: Social Movement Activism and the Production of Space” maps Chicana/o and LatinX activism and space creation in 1960s Fruitvale, Oakland California. UCLA Geography professor and author Dr. Juan Herrera discusses the research he conducted including oral histories, ethnography, and archival research. Herrera goes into how power dynamics shape the production of space, and the power of social movements to create space, institutions, and social relationships, and how many of those spaces and institutions affect life in communities today.

0:04 – Intro
0:40 – Main argument and contribution of the book
3:01 – Specifics about Fruitvale community movement politics
5:09 – What is Cartographic Memory and how is it important?
7:28 – Choices in how to tell the stories in the book
10:24 – How does the book pertain to the contemporary environment?

UCLA Geography – https://geog.ucla.edu

Interviewer: Dr. Celia Lacayo, Associate Director of Community Engagement, UCLA Social Sciences & Professor Chicana/o & Central American Studies and African American Studies Department

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Subscribe to LA Social Science and be the first to learn more insight and knowledge from UCLA’s Division of Social Sciences experts and other faculty.

Raul Hinojosa - The Trump Paradox

The Trump Paradox: Migration, Trade, and Racial Politics in US-Mexico Integration – A collection of essays from top scholars in the US and Mexico. LA Social Science spoke with UCLA professor Raúl Hinojosa, Lead Author and Editor, who discusses the importance of the trade and immigration policies surrounding US-Mexico relations, and the impacts of those policies. Dr. Hinojosa also addresses some of the myths associated with voter beliefs, and explains the paradox.

0:04 – Intro
0:48 – Main argument and contribution of the book
4:50 – New politics around Mexico-US trade and migration
8:55 – How do current racial politics affect future politics?
12:07 – How does this pertain to contemporary times and locality?

UCLA César E. Chavez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies – https://chavez.ucla.edu

Interviewer: Dr. Celia Lacayo, Associate Director of Community Engagement, UCLA Social Sciences & Professor Chicana/o & Central American Studies and African American Studies Department

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Subscribe to LA Social Science and be the first to learn more insight and knowledge from UCLA’s Division of Social Sciences experts and other faculty.

Trash Talk interview with Author

“Trash Talk: Anti-Obama Lore and Race in the Twenty-First Century” explores the rumors, legends, and conspiracy theories surrounding Barack Obama since his initial run for President in 2004, and continuing to present day. We spoke with author and professor Patricia A. Turner (Departments of African American Studies, and World Arts and Culture/Dance) who discusses how these rumors, legends, and lore often focus on identity by attacking Barack Obama’s faith, patriotism, sexual orientation, and citizenship, and speaks to the impact of such attacks on the political and sociological landscape both now and throughout history.

0:04 – Intro
0:46 – Main argument and contribution of the book
1:38 – Description of Anti-Obama lore
4:18 – Did you think Obama’s presidency would constitute a post-racial America?
6:32 – Why should this folklore be taken into account?
8:06 – Why is this a critical book to read and/or assign?

Dept. African American Studies – https://afam.ucla.edu
Dept. of World Arts and Culture/Dance – https://www.wacd.ucla.edu
Arthur Ashe Legacy Program – https://arthurashe.ucla.edu

Interviewer: Dr. Celia Lacayo, Associate Director of Community Engagement, UCLA Social Sciences & Professor Chicana/o & Central American Studies and African American Studies Department

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGvpkOpiOGU4f5lSwRygbqg?sub_confirmation=1

Subscribe to LA Social Science and be the first to learn more insight and knowledge from UCLA’s Division of Social Sciences experts and other faculty.

By Lara Drasin

What makes someone want to “do good?” Dr. Daniel Fessler of UCLA’s Anthropology department—the inaugural director of the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute and 2018 recipient of the UCLA Gold Shield Faculty prize—is trying to figure that out, and sat down with LA Social Science to share some thoughts on the subject from an evolutionary perspective.

Fessler and his colleagues are currently conducting research on altruism, or “pro-social behavior.” He says that altruism, or moments in which a person goes out of their way to help another, can actually be “contagious:” witnessing the kindness of others can trigger an emotional reaction in us and inspire us to commit altruistic acts ourselves. The team of researchers are interested investigating what specifically triggers those reaction—or the “machinery inside the mind,” as he puts it, that causes us to make decisions as to whether to be helpful or not. This includes the role that our expectations play in the process. Fessler says that idealists are most likely to be affected, while cynics—or people who are prone to not expect the best from others—are less likely to have this reaction.

What makes someone idealistic or cynical? In addition to studying altruism, Fessler also looks at media and its effects, including how the messages we consume through media may impact the expectations we have of others. “When you choose to repeatedly consume information about the darker aspects of human behavior,” he said, “you’re shaping your own expectations about how other people will behave. It makes you less likely to respond pro-socially when there’s an opportunity to behave in a cooperative situation with others.”

Fessler says that there’s reason to believe our minds process information presented to us through media as though it’s firsthand experience. For example, people who watch a lot of local news overestimate the likelihood that they’ll become victims of violence.

“I love action movies as much as the next person, but I don’t watch them anymore,” he said. “I intentionally avoid realistic depictions of violence because I think it increases our estimation that other people are hostile and violent toward us, and that’s not an orientation I want to have.”

Fessler admits that it is “early days” when it comes to making definitive claims on the psychological effects of media consumption, but he draws a parallel to tobacco. He notes that though it’s legal to buy tobacco products, one can’t pick up a pack of cigarettes without seeing messages reminding us that it is harmful. “I could see a day when we want the same kind of public information campaigns that we have for tobacco use for media consumption,” he said, suggesting that whether or not to consume certain types of media could then become a matter of personal choice, but informed personal choice. “The best thing we can do as scientists is study these things and inform people,” he said, “so that everyone involved can recognize the consequences of their decisions more fully.”

When it comes to his students, Fessler likes to focus on subjects that the students can connect to in their own lives. Everyday subjects including questions like why women tend to be evaluated based on looks; why physical altercations tend to spur from trivial disagreements; and the relationship between economic inequality and violence are all discussed. “It’s important that I teach students in the way that they understand the personal impact of the information,” he said. Usually, conversations take place in a learning environment that Fessler fosters to invoke the same small-scale, face-to-face interactions in which people normally learn outside the context of formal education. He hosts the “FessLab,” where students are invited to assist Dr. Fessler with research outside of class. “The students named it FessLab,” he said, laughing. “It seems kind of self-aggrandizing to me.”

Fessler says that what he loves about UCLA is that it is full of scholars and students who are excited, interested, collaborative and genuinely want to make the world a better place. “That’s not commonly found,” he said. “There is so much good work being done here.”

 

To learn more about the establishment of the new UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute, please click HERE.

On October 8, UCLA Professor Lorrie Frasure-Yokley and UCLA LPPI policy fellow Celina Avalos were interviewed by MSNBC reporter Katy Tur. Check out the video HERE.

Learn more about the Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS) HERE.

Learn more about Professor Lorrie Frasure-Yokley and her research HERE.

Learn more about Celina Avalos’s work on BruinsVOTE! HERE.