Xitlaly Garcia Olivera (2024)

The emergence of Collectivo Espiritu Mayahuel (CEM) through Xitlaly’s project creates a space where Indigenous mezcaleros in La Sierra Sur, Oaxaca can further be in conversation with one another about preserving ancestral practices of mezcal production and exchange traditional knowledge to preserve Indigenous lands from contemporary exploitative forms of mezcal production. CEM further allows small-scale mezcaleros to play a bigger role in the mezcal industry and makes space for Indigenous Oaxaqueñes to reclaim their ancestral beverage while facilitating cultural reproduction within their communities.

Si Jin Guo (2024)

When I asked the question: “has anyone ever heard the term ‘intersex’ before?”, some people attending the Media Studies Showcase raised their hands. Following up with asking the audience whether they could actually explain what “intersex” meant yielded a single person who felt confident in their knowledge. One might expect this level of obscurity to be linked with a very rare condition, but estimates show that at least one out of every hundred individuals has an intersex condition— an umbrella covering over 40+ congenital differences in sex development. Intersex people […]

Alina Leticia Zárate (2024)

The mission of this project is to combat farmworker disenfranchisement by dignifying their experiences, not just as a community disproportionately impacted by climate change, but also as experts and innovators within their evolving working and living conditions. Through environmental and farmworker justice educational and advocacy efforts, this project will validate farmworker knowledge by conducting interviews with workers who have toiled in the fields for at least a decade. These interviews will ask workers about the environmental changes they have experienced (i.e. heat, fire, pesticides, etc), how these changes have impacted […]

Eytan Stanton (2024)

The Mosholu Teaching Forest (MTF) is an emerging grassroots effort led by local artists, educators, environmentalists and students to transform a forested section of neglected parkland in the Norwood section of the Bronx, New York into a center for ecological, educational and community development. With the support of the JLS Prize, Eytan will apply the analytical, collaborative and representational design skillset he has honed at Berkeley to advance the collective visions of the MTF. Organizing stewardship opportunities that establish trails, remove trash and manage invasive species will increase biodiversity and […]

Tohar Zamir (2024)

Zamir’s primary objective is to identify communities that are highly vulnerable to the deleterious effects of urban petroleum extraction in Los Angeles and, through a book and series of maps, illustrate the spatialized discriminatory practices and long-term negative consequences of drilling. Likewise, his work incorporates historical and contemporary appraisals of drilling with a racialized landscape on the Angeleno frontier. The ultimate goal of his project is to publish an Anti-Drill Guidebook, partially acting as a history of the phenomenon in Los Angeles, and otherwise advising community groups on how to […]