Community Studies
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10 Iconic Food Writers Every Foodie Should Know
Distinguished Professor Emerita of Social Sciences Julie Guthman was recognized among the top food writers for her “balanced and critical exploration of the food systems in modern-day America.”
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What Jesse Jackson and Zohran Mamdani Have in Common
Michael McCarthy, leader of the Community Studies Program at UC Santa Cruz says organizers have always known that “in order to build a movement, you need to address specific yet important concerns that affect only some parts of your coalition while also speaking to the issues shared by everyone you want to draw into your…
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Blue States Invest Retirees’ Savings in Firms Boosting Trump’s Extreme Agenda
Mike McCarthy, director of UC Santa Cruz’s Community Studies Program, noted the “tremendous lack of democracy in [pension] funds,” adding: “There’s a lack of any oversight from workers about how these funds are invested.”
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A community remembers Mike Rotkin
Lookout Santa Cruz is working to memorialize Mike Rotkin and record the many lives he touched by collecting stories, anecdotes, and tributes from people around the community. Additional coverage by Lookout Community Voices editor Jody K. Biehl and the Santa Cruz Sentinel editorial board.
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Mike Rotkin, former mayor and an essential figure in Santa Cruz progressive activism, dies at 79
Mike Rotkin arrived in Santa Cruz in 1969, not long after the University of California, and soon not only became a pillar of UCSC’s Community Studies Program but launched into the progressive politics that reshaped the city. Additional coverage in Santa Cruz Sentinel and on KSBW.
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Republicans want corporate oligarchy. We need economic democracy
Michael A McCarthy, director of the Community Studies Program at UC Santa Cruz, coauthored an opinion article with U.S. representative Rashida Harbi Tlaib about how to build an economic system that works for all Americans by advancing collective ownership models across sectors.
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How Venture Capital Flattens Neighborhoods
Associate Teaching Professor of Community Studies Alison Alkon explained how gentrification tends to happen in phases, and the latest phase, funded by venture capital, has attempted to co-opt the aesthetic of the independent businesses that are often last hold-outs in the resistance against gentrification. “The force of this countermovement that was trying to make things kind…
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Food for thought: how TV cooking shows influence the way we eat
Associate Professor of Sociology Alison Alkon spoke to The Guardian about how cooking shows have the potential to help people expand their culinary horizons.
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Politics influenced Gavin Newsom’s decision to veto supervised drug-use sites. But not in the way you think
Professor Emeritus of Sociology Craig Reinarman spoke with the San Francisco Chronicle about Gavin Newsom's recent decision to veto a bill that would have created pilot sites for supervised drug use.
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Is Bio-Designed Collagen the Next Step in Animal Protein Replacement?
Community Studies Professor Julie Guthman spoke with The New York Times about the complicated nature of assessing sustainability claims for alternative protein sources.
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California’s strawberry fields may not be forever. Could robots help?
Community Studies Professor Julie Guthman spoke with the Los Angeles Times about fumigants in the California strawberry industry.
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Opinion: I created the first ethnic studies program at my high school
Izadora Amaris Lopez McGawley, a third generation Chicane UCSC student with a double major in critical race and ethnic studies, and community studies, contributed an opinion piece to the San Diego Union-Tribune.