CSRC Research Grants, 2025-26

 

Villa Nicholas’s research maps undocumented immigrants, specifically women/Latinas use various types of technologies that affect and shape them. Her research questions include: What are the information technology practices of Mexican immigrant communities in their everyday lives? What are Mexican women’s participatory design ideas around information technologies? What insights arise from their lifelong stories about information technologies and immigration? This project’s contribution is prioritizing Mexican immigrant women’s technology histories, perspectives, critiques, dreams, and innovations within a surveilling society, prioritizing Mexican immigrant women’s community’s agency in the face of a shifting information economy.

 

 

Lopez's research seeks to recover and illuminate the overlooked histories of Mexican women who played a pivotal role in shaping 19th century Los Angeles. The funding would be to recover essential narratives of Mexicans like Maria Rita Valdez and Arcadia Bandini who played a crucial role in California history who owned and managed property but have not been recognized. These narratives challenge notions that Latinas did not own land/property. The project will highlight their agency in shaping the rancho economy, negotiating shifting political landscapes and influencing the cultural developments of Los Angeles

 

Murillo’s research uses plastics to capture the stories and lived experiences of Central American queer women. One of her key questions is how gender and sexuality shape displacement, cultural retention and identity formation. She also seeks to understand how they define home and belonging in the intersection of immigration, gender and sexuality.

 

Acción Migrante: Mexico’s Transnational Efforts for Provide Mental Health Care in the Face of US Most Recent Immigration Policies

Diana Rinza, Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology
 

Rinza’s work examines Mexico’s mental health initiative that is responding to the current immigrant deportations by the Trump administration. The goal is to provide resources for these immigrants to assist in their transition. Diana aims to assess and measure the success of this program by documenting possible barriers to access and through clinical observations and in-depth interviews and comparing different approaches between Mexico and the US.

 

Stories of Solidarity: Resisting State Violence and Tracing Radical Love in Environmental Justice and Organizing in Los Angeles 1970-2024

Rocio Rivera-Murillo, Graduate Student, Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies
 

Rivera-Murillo’s work examines Latina working class activists and traces the genealogy of environmental justice. She traces how state violence affects their strategies to organize and takes into account how their feminist ideology plays out in organizing. Her work uses oral histories to capture the voices and perspectives of these women and also chronicles the impact of their work.

 

Flavorful Encounters: An Exploratory Study Unveiling the Experiences of Night Market Vendors in Los Angeles

Darlene Garcia, Graduate Student, Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies
 

Garcia’s research examines the night market vendors and how this growing segment impacts the economy. One key question she posits is, What strategies do they utilize to promote their goods, navigate adversaries and expand business operations. She also wants to document all the challenges and dangerous night time vendors endure and see how they advocate for themselves.