Eric Porter, a professor of History, History of Consciousness, and Critical Race and Ethnic studies at UC Santa Cruz, has a longstanding fascination with power and resistance.
Porter’s approach to history will inform his new position as Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Humanities Division. “My research and teaching in African American history, music studies, and related fields has addressed how accumulated power - racial, gendered, and colonial - has manifested in cultural production, social relations, urban infrastructures, and other realms of human activity,” Porter said.
Porter has also studied how people all over the world have resisted the powerful forces that shaped their lives.
“This work and my first-hand experiences in institutions of higher education have helped me understand how universities reproduce social, political, and economic hierarchies while also offering us the skills and opportunities to challenge and disrupt them,” Porter said. “As associate dean, I hope to help develop and protect the best UCSC does in this regard while also promoting changes that will help the institution function as equitably as possible.”
“We definitely face significant challenges in the Humanities in the current budget climate, but I am convinced we can move forward in our commitments to social justice and activism, inclusivity, and educating one another among our staff, students, and faculty,” Porter said.
UCSC Humanities Dean Jasmine Alinder praised the depth of Porter’s scholarship and said that he was uniquely suited to be the new Associate Dean for DEI. “Eric Porter’s work is far-ranging, incorporating Black cultural history, intellectual studies, and the way that jazz and improvisation can serve as modes of resistance,” Alinder said. “He’s also delved deeply into urban studies and Black radicalism.”
Alinder also called attention to Porter’s many service contributions, including his work over the years in support of the University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (UCPPFP.) He recently chaired the History of Consciousness Department and just finished a two-year stint as Graduate Director in the History Department. He has also served as chair of American Studies.
“In his work and his public advocacy, Porter has shown his strong commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout his career,” Alinder said. “His work illustrates why DEI is foundational to the Humanities Division at UCSC. Our professors, undergraduates and graduate students are known for their research in social justice relating to issues of gender and ethnicity.”
“Here in the Humanities Division, we understand that DEI principles are central to our mission of academic excellence because these principles encourage problem-solving, innovation, and creative thinking, and help drive faculty retention and recruitment,” Alinder continued.
Alinder also praised Porter’s predecessor, Professor of Feminist Studies Gina Dent who was the inaugural associate dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion for the Humanities Division.
“I am grateful to Gina for her tremendous contributions over the last year in her role as associate dean of DEI, and am thrilled to work with Eric Porter this year,” she said.
In 2021, Porter co-edited the volume Sound Changes: Improvisation and Transcultural Difference, which offers an introduction to a range of musical expressions across the globe in which improvisation plays a key role. His most recent book, A People’s History of SFO: The Making of the Bay Area and an Airport, views SFO as a “microcosm of the forces that have been and are at work in the Bay Area—from its colonial history and early role in trade, mining, and agriculture to the economic growth, social sanctuary, and environmental transformations of the twentieth century.”
