Alex Rocha-Àlvarez, an incoming doctoral student, has just received a prestigious Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship!
Alex was born to Mexican farmworkers who raised her between the strawberry fields of Watsonville, California. As a resident of Jardines del Valle, a farmworker community also known as Murphy’s Camp, Alex grew up witnessing firsthand the hardships and resilience experienced by those who feed us all. As a PhD student at UC Berkeley, Alex will continue to give voice to her farmworker community. She plans to research the impact of agricultural labor and housing policies from the official dismantling of labor camps in the 1970s to the present with the hopes of uncovering hidden histories of adaptation and transformation and using her scholarship to inform equitable policies that address the needs of farmworker communities.
Congratulations, Alex, and welcome to Berkeley Ethnic Studies!