CSWS Annual Review

by Lola Loustaunau, PhD candidate, Department of Sociology

“One time I hurt my back, because the work there is really heavy, and I remember she [the human resource director] made me cry, gave a warning and wouldn’t let me go to the doctor, and I felt so bad,” said Mercedes, a bakery worker, while seated on her couch. It’s an icy winter morning and we have been talking for a while. Although I had asked about work injuries the answer that Mercedes gave me went beyond stating that she had, in fact, injured her back while working. 

by Angela Rovak, Doctoral Candidate, Department of English

Even before she turned ten years old, Octavia E. Butler knew she was destined to be a writer. In an interview with The New York Times in 2000, Butler recalls that, 

By Laura Strait, Doctoral Candidate, Media Studies, School of Journalism and Communication

by Michelle Byrne, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Psychology

What does mental illness have to do with adolescent girls’ immune health? How can we better understand the development of girls who experience abuse? Are there health disparities for girls, especially girls that experience childhood adversity and depression? Our project asked these questions in order to fully explore how girls’ physical and mental health may be linked. 

by Emily Halnon, University Communications, reprinted from Oregon Quarterly (Spring 2018)

The first time UO sociologist Eileen Otis walked into a Walmart, she was far from home—Kunming, China, to be exact. She was immediately struck by how greatly the Chinese version of the massive retailer differed from its American counterpart.

by Shoniqua Roach, Assistant Professor, Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

by tova stabin, University Communications

The history of Eugene’s lesbian community from the 1960s through the 1990s will be kept alive through video interviews and archival documents of more than 140 women taking part in the UO’s Lesbian Oral History project.

Judith Raiskin, associate professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Linda Long, curator of manuscripts in Special Collections and University Archives in UO Libraries, are conducting the project as part of the library’s effort to preserve Oregon history.

by Ernesto J. Martínez, Associate Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies

by Marjorie Celona, Assistant Professor, UO Creative Writing Program

A 2018 O. Henry Award winner, Marjorie Celona’s short story “Counterblast” first appeared in The Southern Review Permission to reprint this excerpt was given by the author. You can read the story in its entirety in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2018 (September 2018, Anchor).

Interviewed by Alice Evans, CSWS Managing Editor; Michelle McKinley, CSWS Director and Professor, School of Law; and Dena Zaldúa, CSWS Operations Manager