Graduate Student Accomplishments

Graduate Student Accomplishments

Vrindavani Avila 

Vrindavani Avila was invited to attend a three-day intensive research incubator for abortion scholars. This annual program is designed to share insights and strategies for conducting rigorous and relevant research on abortion in the U.S. conducted by Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, a leading research program on abortion and reproductive health based at UCSF, and the Scholars Strategy Network, a national membership organization made up of college and university-based researchers.

Cavar 

Cavar is a Cultural Studies PhD candidate with a designated emphasis in Science & Technology Studies. Their debut novel, Failure to Comply, is set for publication with featherproof books on August 6, and is now available for pre-order. Cavar’s recent peer-reviewed work has appeared in Kairos and The Review of Disability Studies, and their poem, “dyke (genealogy)," received an honorable mention in Canthius Magazine’s Priscilla Uppal Memorial Prize.

Elyx Desloover

In this philosophical conversation carried out virtually in 2022 with Marquis Bey, author of Black Trans Feminism (2022), Desloover and Bey discuss themes in and adjacent to the scholar’s then most recent monograph, such as undefining, opacity, queer excess, playful performativity, and the destabilization of assumed-to-be solid identitary ground. “Playing and Hiding Joyfully in the Rubble” explores the idea of holding up without holding down, fostering kinship while foregoing constraining gender impositions and envisioning what might erupt from radical openness.