Faculty

Thomas Biolsi

Professor
Comparative Ethnic Studies, Native American Studies
Governmentality, Indian Law & Policy, Race-Making

I received my PhD in Anthropology, and most of my research has been conducted on Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota, home of the Sicangu Lakota or Rosebud Sioux. In February 2023, I began collaborative research on the Hoopa Valley Tribe in northern California, which has been in a 7 decade struggle to address the loss of fish in the Trinity River whose water has been diverted to irrigate farms in the Central Valley.

PhD, Anthropology, Columbia University, 1987
BA, Anthropology, Hofstra University, 1975

Carolyn Chen

Professor
Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies
Comparative Ethnic Studies
Ethnicity, Immigration, Race, Religion
Degree

Ph.D., Sociology, University of California at Berkeley
M.A., Sociology, University of California at Berkeley
A.B., Sociology, Brown University

Carolyn Chen received her doctorate in Sociology from UC Berkeley in 2002. Prior to teaching at Berkeley, she was Associate Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies at Northwestern University, where she served as Director of the Asian American Studies Program. Professor Chen’s research focuses on two areas: work and religion in contemporary America, and religion, race, and ethnicity, especially among Asian...

Catherine Ceniza Choy

Professor
Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies
Comparative Ethnic Studies
Adoption, Asian American History, Gender, Migration, Nursing, Philippine and Filipino American Studies
Degree

Ph.D., History, University of California, Los Angeles, June 1998
M.A., History, University of California, Los Angeles, 1993
B.A., History, cum laude, Pomona College, Claremont, 1991

Catherine Ceniza Choy is an award-winning Asian American historian and professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of Asian American Histories of the United States...

Shari Huhndorf

Class of 1938 Professor
Native American Studies
American studies, cultural studies, gender studies, Interdisciplinary Native American studies, literary and visual culture
Degree

Ph.D., Comparative Literature, New York University
M.A., Comparative Literature, New York University
B.A., English, University of Redlands

Office Hours:

Spring 2024: Tuesday and Thursday, 4:00-5:00 and by appointment

Long Le-Khac

Assistant Professor
Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies
Chicanx Latinx Studies

Salar Mameni

Assistant Professor
Comparative Ethnic Studies

I am an art historian specializing in contemporary transnational art and visual culture in the Arab/Muslim world with an interdisciplinary research on racial discourse, transnational gender politics, militarism, oil cultures and extractive economies in West Asia.

Degree/Education

UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz Ph.D., Art History, University of California, San Diego M.A., Art History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver B.F.A., Fine Arts, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design

Peter Nelson

Assistant Professor
Anthropological archaeology, Indigenous environmental studies, and Native American Studies

Peter Nelson (Coast Miwok and tribal citizen of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria) received his PhD in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and is Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies and Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. Professor Nelson works at the intersection of anthropological archaeology, Indigenous environmental studies, and Native American Studies in collaboration with tribal nations and Indigenous peoples in California and abroad on issues of cultural heritage preservation, settler colonialism, climate change, and Indigenous landscape management. Professor Nelson...

Lorena Oropeza

Professor
Chicanx Latinx Studies
Chicanx History, Gender, Oral History, Race and Empires

I mostly study people who during the 1960s raised hell because they wanted to stop a war, or fight racial injustice, or overthrow patriarchy. Inspired by these activists, my research and teaching reflect my desire to harness what I consider the subversive potential of history to prompt new ways of thinking among academics and members of the public alike.

Christian Paiz

Associate Professor
Comparative Ethnic Studies
Comparative Latino Studies, Historical Methods, Philippine and Filipino American Studies, Social Movement History, United States History

I am a U.S. labor historian with a focus on farmworker movements, inter-racial relations, and history methods.

Laura E. Pérez

Professor Chicanx and Latinx Studies & Chair, Latinx Research Center
Chicanx Latinx Studies
Decolonial aesthetics, Decolonial spiritualities, Latina/o literary + visual + performance arts, Post-sixties US Women of Color Feminist and Queer Thought
Degree

Ph.D., Romance Languages & Literatures, Harvard University; Stanford University, Exchange Scholar; B.A./M.A. Joint Degree, Romance Languages & Literatures, University of Chicago; Cursos Internacionales de Verano, Universidad de Salamanca.

Laura Elisa Pérez is professor in the Program of Chicanx Latinx Studies and the Department of Ethnic Studies, and since 2018-19, is Chair of the new interdisciplinary and transAmericas Latinx Research Center, at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a core faculty member of the doctoral program in Performance...