Social Justice and Equity
This page would be incomplete without acknowledging that the very land that Sonoma State University occupies, in which I was privileged enough to simply read about inequality, is stolen land which is the ancestral homeland of the Coast Miwok and Pomo Tribes. To read about the LANDBACK movement, which seeks to restore stolen Indigenous land, as well as language, and more, go to https://landback.org
Social Justice and Equity are the pillars of my education in the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies; throughout my time at SSU, I have been privileged enough to be able to learn about systemic and individual oppression that is perpetuated by the current system of power in the United States, and around the world. I have done research on larger issues like mass incarceration, and on issues closer to home, like student vulnerability. Below are my favorite books that I have read while continuing my social justice education, as well as some of the work that I have done throughout my time in the Hutchins School (in chronological order) in order to research these issues, and propose solutions to them.
Top Books
LIBS 102: Legal Issues Project
In LIBS 102: In Search of Self, I researched mass incarceration; mass incarceration continues to perpetuate the oppression of marginalized groups, but particularly Black communities. Below you will see my research outline, as well as the essay in which I used this research.
In this essay, I compiled the research from my outline (found on the left side of the page) in order to talk about how the declaration of the United States' "War on Drugs" started an era of mass incarceration.
In my research outline, I discussed how mass incarceration in the United States is a complex issue, that sentencing disparities, economic incentives, and racial disparities in policing and sentencing, contribute to. I also researched the consequences of mass incarceration; besides the obvious, mass incarceration is used as a means of voter suppression. Political propaganda, like the kind used during the "War on Drugs" perpetuates mass incarceration.
LIBS 202
Challenge and Response in the Modern World
For our final project in LIBS 202, we were tasked with coming up with a solution to a problem that we saw in the world. My class decided that Student Vulnerability was a huge problem that we saw every single day. My group decided to focus on student homelessness and housing insecurity. In our final presentation (which you can see to the right) we gave an overview of the problem itself, and created a brochure with information about basic needs and student homelessness to be distributed by the SSU Student Affairs Office.
Senior Project
This project was my last one in the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, which I completed in LIBS 402: Senior Synthesis.
It is not enough to simply learn about social justice; creating equity is about creating solutions when possible, no matter how small those solutions may be. This project was our way of trying to contribute to creating a solution to an issue we saw in the world.
The Queer Solidarity Project stemmed from the idea that the LGBTQ+ community exists as a multifaceted community filled with diverse identities and lived experiences; however, we do not always understand experiences that differ from our own. This project was an attempt to create a resource for Queer individuals to learn how to be better allies to each other, and to other marginalized group. To see the final project, you can view the website that we created below, which includes: a project abstract, a set of "how-to guides" for various communities, outside resources, and a glossary of commonly used terms in the LGBT+ community.