Past RIGs

Becoming Bicultural: Latino Immigrant Mothers Raising American Children RIG

This RIG, which formally ended in October 2010, addressed cross-cultural issues confronted by Latino immigrant mothers who are raising their children in the United States.

Description: In bringing Latino mother/ professionals together in a group setting, we produce feelings of empathy, shared convictions, and cohesiveness among the group participants—creating a sense that we are not alone here raising bilingual bicultural kids. In this climate of mutual respect, validation, and encouragement from peers, we bring our cultural traditions to assess real life situations to better understand the issues, and to develop future research projects.

Our purpose is to research the complexities of “becoming bicultural” and discuss the effects of this transformative process. Biculturalism (paired with bilingualism) affects immigrant parents and their children differently. For example, our group discusses how group members handle family life in adjusting to the new culture—including discrimination, and racism. We explore the challenges that these processes create for social service interventions, psychological support, school counseling, and the provision of other services. For example, our research group discusses the following questions:

  • What do we see as the differences between the United States and our own countries of origin regarding child rearing?
  • How was our own lifestyle as children and adolescents different from that of our children?
  • What does an immigrant family need to achieve a feeling of satisfaction and cohesion in the new country?
  • What type of services/ assistance that are culturally appropriate would immigrant mothers in distress need?
  • How could we (professional women) communicate the needs and concerns of Latino immigrant mothers more effectively?

Because all of our members work with immigrants in the community, our group combines scholarly research with service projects. In this vein, we brought invited speakers to campus and organized a series of three workshops for Latino immigrant parents at Springfield High School, sponsored by SELCO Community Credit Union. Our members also made presentations at conferences and school events on issues of biculturalism and parenthood that we have been discussing during our monthly meetings. We produced a Directory of Bilingual Social Services in Eugene and Springfield Oregon that we have distributed widely.

Former Contact:  Marcela Mendoza (mmendoza@uoregon.edu)

See related links:

“Advocating for Control with Compassion: The Impacts of Raids and Deportations on Children and Families,” by Marcela Mendoza and Edward Olivos (Oregon Review of International Law, Vol. 11, Mo. 1, 2009)

“Directory of Bilingual Social Services” [no longer available; needs updating].

“Crossing Borders: Latin American refugee mothers reunited with their children in the United States,” by Ruth Vargas-Forman (paper presented at the conference on Philosophical Inquiry into Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Mothering.  University of Oregon, Eugene, May 16, 2009.)

Parenthood in a Foreign Land: An interdisciplinary look at the challenges faced by immigrant mothers and fathers raising bicultural children,” by Marcela Mendoza (paper presented at the conference on Philosophical Inquiry into Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Mothering.  University of Oregon, Eugene, May 16, 2009.)

“Parenting in a Foreign Land: The Known Factors and Experiences,” by Judith Rocha (paper presented at the conference on Philosophical Inquiry into Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Mothering.  University of Oregon, Eugene, May 16, 2009.)

Mexicanos in Oregon: Their Stories, Their Lives
Erlinda V. Gonzales-Berry and Marcela Mendoza, 2010. ISBN 978-0-87071-584-6. Paperback, $22.95 (Oregon State University Press).
“This important volume sheds new light on the stories and lives of mexicanos in Oregon: why migrants come to Oregon fields, construction sites, and warehouses, what their experiences are when they settle here, and how they adapt to life in the United States.”

Politics, Culture and Identity RIG

The purpose of this RIG was to strengthen and support the work of, and foster contact among, scholars interested in the links among politics, culture and identity. Their mission was to explore these links from an interdisciplinary, qualitative, historical, and theoretical perspective. They examined how cultural narratives, discourses, ideologies, identity discourses (such as race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationality) shape and are shaped by key political processes, social movements, power structures, legal and legislative discourses and precedents, policy issues, and institutions.  The focus of the RIG was open to the interests and projects of the members.

Questions are:

* What can an analysis of culture and discourse add to the study of politics?

* How are political agendas/issues defined and redefined?

* What is the relationship between context and politics?

* How have identity politics changed over time?

Former Contact: Priscilla Yamin, Political Science, pyamin(at)uoregon.edu, (541) 346-4879

The Projects of Queer Studies: Race, Pedagogy, and Social Theory RIG

Our mission is to develop a community of scholars at the UO who are in conversation about the most recent work in the field of queer studies, particularly the work that is seeking to address intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, disability, and legacies of colonialism. Related to our mission is a strong commitment to questions of pedagogy.  As such, the work of this RIG seeks to compliment and inform efforts on the UO campus to develop and maintain a rigorous and intellectually vibrant Queer Studies research environment and curriculum.

This RIG is primarily a reading group, meeting bi-weekly to discuss articles and works-in-progress submitted by RIG participants. Readings may include the following:

  • Pedagogies of Crossing: Meditations on Feminism, Sexual Politics, and the Sacred, by M. Jacqui Alexander
  • What’s Queer about Queer Studies Now? (Special Issue of Social Text, edited by Judith Halberstam, Jose Esteban Mu
  • Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique, by Roderick Ferguson
  • Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures, Gayatri Gopinath
  • Postcolonial, Queer: Theoretical Intersections, edited by John C. Hawley
  • Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology, E. Patrick Johnson
  • Beautiful Bottom, Beautiful Shame: Where “Black” Meets “Queer” (Series Q) by Kathryn Bond Stockton
  • Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability, Robert McRuer
  • With Her Machete in Her Hand: Reading Chicana Lesbians, by Catriona Rueda Esquibel
  • Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discoursive Spaces, by Juana Maria Rodriguez
  • Made in India: Decolonizations, Queer Sexualities, Trans/national Projects, by Suparna Bhaskaran
  • Troubling Education: Queer Activism and Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy by Kevin Kumashiro

Former Contact
Ernesto J. Martinez, assistant professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, ejm(at)uoregon.edu, (541) 346-5523

Violence, Gender and Society RIG

This group was interested in domestic violence and other forms of violence involving women. They read existing literature, pursued evaluation studies and sought a multidisciplinary approach to violence issues.

During 2008-09 the group continued to educate themselves and the campus community about violence-related issues which include:  to share their own interests/activities on a monthly or quarterly basis; and to read and research the topic of trauma and responses to trauma. They to established a year-long schedule that incorporated panel discussions and reading discussions. The group consulted with community and campus projects on common concerns including: collaborating with the disability and abuse group in the community as needed; collaborating with the Attorney General’s Task Force on Sexual Assault; and collaborating with the Trauma Healing Project. And finally, they explored external funding for further collaborative research in this area.

Intimate Partner Violence, Gender & Methamphetamine Conference (held 11/27/2007)

Conference Handouts:

Conference Powerpoint Presentations for downloading:

The conference was sponsored by the research interest group and the Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) at the University of Oregon. The purpose of this conference was to bring together key multidisciplinary groups in the greater Oregon region in our ongoing collective efforts to coordinate services, shape policy and reduce intimate partner violence.

Debra Eisert, Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior; Cheris Kramarae, Center for the Study of Women in Society; Deborah Olson, Special Education; Jeff Todahl, Couples and Family Therapy

Former Contact: Deborah Olson, Special Education, dlolson(at)uoregon.edu, (541) 346-2483