Faculty

The graduate faculty in the Cultural Studies Graduate Group pursue research in a plethora of fields while drawing on a variety of methodologies. Many of our faculty focus on “identity politics”—the study of cultural representations of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and nationality—through both humanities and social science methods. Our faculty also research in the general areas of science, technology, technoculture, and cultural geography as well as in the specific arenas of cultures of food, fashion, tourism and travel, mobility, and disability studies. Visual culture (media, film, television, and virtual reality) and textual analysis are strong emphases among our faculty. We also have faculty who study entertainment and culture industries, drawing on archival materials as well as more representational practices. Many of our faculty study immigration, diasporas, and the situation of refugees as well as or in relation to the history of European colonialism, the modern phenomenon of globalization, and transnational cultural processes. We include faculty who practice ethnographic fieldwork techniques as well as literary close readings. What draws this large and diverse group together is a recognition of the importance of culture in relation to the equally important social categories of politics and economics. Many of our faculty collaborate in research and working groups, both formally and informally.

The following list of affiliated faculty members is organized by department.

African American and African Studies

  
Name Research Interests Email Address
Christine Acham African American film and television, black political filmmaking, documentary film acham@ucdavis.edu
Moradewun Adejunmobi African studies, Media, Performance madejunmobie@ucdavis.edu
Bettina Ng’weno Cultural Anthropology, States, Property, Race, Ethnicity, Rural Societies, Politics, Social Justice, Equality, Diaspora, Indigeneity, Latin America, Indian Ocean and Africa bngweno@ucdavis.edu
Halifu Osumare African American Performance, Hip Hop Youth Culture hosumare@ucdavis.edu
Patricia Turner African American Culture and Society paturner@ucdavis.edu
     

American Studies

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Charlotte Biltekoff Food and eating in America from the late nineteenth to the present; the culture of food and health; cultural politics of dietary ideals cbiltekoff@ucdavis.edu
Carolyn de la Peña Consumer/advertising/marketing, food, technology, material culture--history, in a U.S. context ctdelapena@ucdavis
Caren Kaplan Visual Culture of Militarization; Cultural Geography; Technologies of Location, Navigation, and Surveillance; Mobility Studies, Postcolonial and Transnational Cultural Studies; Digital Humanities cjkaplan@ucdavis.edu
Eric Smoodin American and French film history, 1895-1960; the American and French film industries; the film audience; film studies as a discipline esmoodin@ucdavis.edu
Julie Sze Environmental Justice, Race and Science, the Politics of the Urban Environment, Health & Risk, Social Movements and Community Activism jsze@ucdavis.edu
Grace Wang Asian American studies, popular culture and music, Ethnic American literature, transnational studies grwang@ucdavis.edu
     

Anthropology

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Marisol de la Cadena Indigeneity. knowledge formations, natureculture mdelac@ucdavis.edu
Donald Donham Ethnography of modernity, political economy, intersections of class, race, gender and sexuality, history of anthropology dldonham@ucdavis.edu
Joseph Dumit Social Studies, Medical Anthropology, Anthropology of Science, Technology & Computing jpdumit@ucdavis.edu
Suad Joseph Middle East Cross-Cultural Studies sjoseph@ucdavis.edu
Suzana Sawyer Environment, Indigenous People, Extractive Industries smsawyer@ucdavis.edu
Li Zhang psychological and medical anthropology, urban studies, postsocialism, China lizhang@ucdavis.edu
     

Art History

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Christina Cogdell contemporary "generative" architecture in relation to popular scientific theories of self-organization, emergence and evolution; design studies; history of American eugenics cgcogdell@ucdavis.edu
Simon Sadler History and Theory of Modern and Contemporary Architecture, Design, and Urbanism; particularly in relation to politics, experimentation, mobility, California, and globalization sjsadler@ucdavis.edu
Blake Stimson Art and Visual Culture bstimson@ucdavis.edu
Heghnar Watenpaugh Urban and Architectural History in Islamic Societies hwatenpaugh@ucdavis.edu
     

Asian American Studies

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Wendy Ho Asian American women waho@ucdavis.edu
Richard Kim Race and ethnicity, Transnationalism rskim@ucdavis.edu
Sunaina Maira Youth culture, popular culture, South Asian diaspora, Muslim American communities, War on Terror, U.S. empire smaira@ucdavis.edu
Susette Min Modern and Contemporary Art, Visual Culture, Curatorial Studies, and Asian American Literature ssmin@ucdavis.edu
Robyn Rodriguez Asian American and diaspora studies; neoliberalism, globalization and labor; transnationalism and migration; comparative racialization, neocolonialism and U.S. empire, intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality rrodriguez@ucdavis.edu
Sarita See Asian American literature and visual culture, Filipino American cultural critique, empire and postcolonial studies, critical race studies, narrative theory, theories of gender and sexuality mssee@ucdavis.edu
     

Chicano/a Studies

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Angie Chabram-Dernersesian Chicano/a Cultural Studies adchabramdernersesian@ucdavis.edu
Miroslava Chavez-Garcia Chicana/o Studies; Chicana/o & Latina/o History;history of youth of color in the U.S.; Race & Juvenile Justice; Latinas in the U.S.; United States-Mexico Border; Chicano movement; Qualitative Research Methods; Spanish Borderlands chavezgarcia@ucdavis.edu
Sergio de la Mora Latin American and Chicano/Latino film, video and literature, third cinema, queer studies, and cultural studies, focusing primarily on racialized cultural identities and representation in Mexican and Chicana/o popular culture delamora@ucdavis.edu
Carlos Jackson Chicano/a Cultural Studies cfjackson@ucdavis.edu
     

Cinema and Technocultural Studies

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Jaimey Fisher Film Studies, 20th-century German Literature, Intellectual History jrfisher@ucdavis.edu
Bob Ostertag rostertag@ucdavis.edu
Kriss Ravetto The problem of representing and theorizing the violence produced by nation building, ethnocentrism, and sexism in a manner that does not play into a vicious cycle where moralism, media images, and language produce their own forms of violence ravetto@ucdavis.edu
Julie Wyman Gender and the body jfwyman@ucdavis.edu
     

Comparative Literature

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Gail Finney German and Comparative Literature gefinney@ucdavis.edu
Neil Larsen Critical Theory and its philosophical sources, Marxism, Comparative literature, Post-colonial and Latin-American literary studies (including Brazil) nalarsen@ucdavis.edu
Juliana Schiesari Feminist theory, Psychoanalysis, Renaissance and early modern literature, Women's Literature jkschiesari@ucdavis.edu
     

East Asian Languages and Culture

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Xiaomei Chen Modern Chinese literature, drama, theater, film, fiction, popular culture, women's literature, comparative literature, literary theory, cultural studies, and performance studies xmchen@ucdavis.edu

English

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Gregory Dobbins Postcolonialism, Modernism gjdobbins@ucdavis.edu
Kathleen Frederickson Victorian literature and culture; feminist and queer studies; the history of biology, psychology, and the social sciences; Marxism; and psychoanalysis kfrederickson@ucdavis.edu
Elizabeth Freeman Gender and Sexuality esfreeman@ucdavis.edu
Hsuan L. Hsu 19th and 20th-Century U.S. literature, Asian American Literature, cultural geography, visual culture, comparative racialization, and theories of globalization hlhsu@ucdavis.edu
Mark Jerng Race theory; kinship studies; narrative and the novel; intersections between psychoanalysis and literature mcjerng@ucdavis.edu
Desirée Martín U.S.-Mexico Border Studies, Chicano/a & Latino/a Literature and Culture, Performance Art and Theater, Subaltern Studies dmartin@ucdavis.edu
Colin Milburn Relations of Literature and Science, Science Fiction, Gothic Horror, History of Biology, History of Physics, Posthumanism cnmilburn@ucdavis.edu
Parama Roy Postcolonial theory and literature; Victorian studies; feminist studies; cultural studies; appetite, consumption, taste/food studies proy@ucdavis.edu
Scott Simmon Film Studies, American Culture, 20th-century American Literature sasimmon@ucdavis.edu
Evan Watkins Literacy Theory, Gender Studies epwatkins@ucdavis.edu
     

Environmental Design

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Michael Rios Space, place, urbanism mxrios@ucdavis.edu
     

French

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Julia Simon 18th-century French literature and culture, particularly the work of the philosophes, with special emphasis on the relevance of Enlightenment social, political, moral, and aesthetic theory today jsimon@ucdavis.edu
     

German and Russian

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Jaimey Fisher Film Studies, 20th-century German Literature, Intellectual History jrfisher@ucdavis.edu
Elisabeth Krimmer history, theory and representation of violence and war; gender and film studies; German literature from the 18th century to the present emkrimmer@ucdavis.edu
     

History

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
David Biale Jewish Intellectual and Cultural History, European Intellectual History, History of Religion dbiale@ucdavis.edu
Omnia El Shakry Modern Arab Intellectual History; Middle East Studies; Colonial and Postcolonial Histories; Visual Culture, Aesthetics, and Politics in the Modern Middle East oselshakry@ucdavis.edu
Catherine Kudlick Disability Studies cjkudlick@ucdavis.edu
Sudipta Sen Late Medieval and Modern India, British Empire ssen@ucdavis.edu
Clarence Walker Black American history: 1450-Present, 19th-century social and political history of the United States cewalker@ucdavis.edu
     

Human and Community Development

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Michael P. Smith Urban Social Theory mpsmith@ucdavis.edu
   

Linguistics

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Vaidehi Ramanathan Sociopolitical aspects of language learning and teaching, vernacular languages, globalization, language policies, teacher education, pedagogies, and literacy practices vramanathan@ucdavis.edu
   

Religious Studies

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Alison Coudert History of Christianity, Religion and Science, Jewish-Christian Relations, Women and Religion, Comparative Mysticisms apcoudert@ucdavis.edu
Keith Watenpaugh Modern Islam, Human Rights, Peace kwatenpaugh@ucdavis.edu
     

School of Education

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Karen Watson-Gegeo Sociolinguistics, Bilingual Education kawatsongegeo@ucdavis.edu
     

School of Law

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Mario Biagioli Science studies, intellectual property mbiagioli@ucdavis.edu
Angela Harris Critical Race Theory, Feminist Jurisprudence, Law And Cultural Studies, Race Relations, Women's Rights, Law And Society apharris@ucdavis.edu
Madhavi Sunder Intellectual Property (Including International Intellectual Property), Law And Cultural Studies, Cyberlaw, Women's Rights msunder@ucdavis.edu
     

Science and Technology Studies

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Mario Biagioli Science studies, intellectual property mbiagioli@ucdavis.edu
Marisol de la Cadena Indigeneity. knowledge formations, natureculture mdelac@ucdavis.edu
Joseph Dumit Social Studies, Medical Anthropology, Anthropology of Science, Technology & Computing jpdumit@ucdavis.edu
Caren Kaplan Visual Culture of Militarization; Cultural Geography; Technologies of Location, Navigation, and Surveillance; Mobility Studies, Postcolonial and Transnational Cultural Studies; Digital Humanities cjkaplan@ucdavis.edu
Colin Milburn Relations of Literature and Science, Science Fiction, Gothic Horror, History of Biology, History of Physics, Posthumanism cnmilburn@ucdavis.edu
Madhavi Sunder Intellectual Property (Including International Intellectual Property), Law And Cultural Studies, Cyberlaw, Women's Rights msunder@ucdavis.edu
     

Sociology

  
Name Research Interests Email Address
Laura Grindstaff Popular Culture, Feminist Theory lagrindstaff@ucdavis.edu
Diane Wolf Gender, Family, Identity, Trauma and Memory dlwolf@ucdavis.edu
     

Spanish and Portuguese

  
Name Research Interests Email Address
Robert Irwin Transnational Epistemologies of Cultural Studies; Latin American Cultural Studies Theory; Culture Industries in Mexico, Colombia; Latino California rmirwin@ucdavis.edu
Michael Lazzara Contemporary Latin American Literature and Culture, Literature of the Southern Cone, Chilean Culture, Dictatorships, Democratic Transitions, Trauma, Memory, Exile and Migration mjlazzara@ucdavis.edu
Ana Peluffo Latin American literatures and cultures with an emphasis on the 19th and early 20th century. Areas of interest include gender and ethnicity, literature and the nation, Andean and Southern Cone cultures, poetry and visual arts aopeluffo@ucdavis.edu
     

Textiles and Clothing

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Susan Kaiser Feminist Studies of Fashion and Science sbkaiser@ucdavis.edu
Margaret Rucker Sexual Orientation and Consumer Behavior mhrucker@ucdavis.edu
     

Theatre and Dance

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Larry Bogad The intersection between art and activism; the role of humor and imagination in organizing social movements lbogad@ucdavis.edu
Lynette Hunter History of Rhetoric and Performance lhunter@ucdavis.edu
Jon Rossini Performance of Race and Ethnicity, especially Latinidad; neoliberalism, space, and theories of performance jdrossini@ucdavis.edu
     

University Writing Program

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Sarah Perrault Rhetoric of science, focused on popular science writing; genre theory; current applications of classical rhetoric (e.g. ethos, stasis theory); metaphor; error in student writing sperrault@ucdavis.edu
Carl Whithaus Impact of information technology on literacy practices; writing assessment; writing in the sciences and engineering cwwhithaus@ucdavis.edu
     

Women and Gender Studies

 
Name Research Interests Email Address
Elizabeth L. Constable French Literature elconstable@ucdavis.edu
Maxine Craig Sociology of the body, masculinities, and intersections of race, class and gender. mbcraig@ucdavis.edu
Wendy Ho Asian American women waho@ucdavis.edu
Suad Joseph Middle East Cross-Cultural Studies sjoseph@ucdavis.edu
Susan Kaiser Feminist Studies of Fashion and Science sbkaiser@ucdavis.edu
Anna K. Kuhn Feminist Theory, Film Studies akkuhn@ucdavis.edu
Amina Mama Feminist theories, activist methodologies, African development politics and policies, gender and higher education, militarism, social transformations and transnational movements amama@ucdavis.edu
Luz Mena Gender and Race Issues in Urban Contexts; Performativity and and the Politics of Space; Dance and Embodied Knowledge; Colonial Relations; Latin America and the Caribbean lmmena@ucdavis.edu