The Undergraduate Academy of Feminist Scholars

The Undergraduate Academy of Feminist Scholars employs an anti-oppression research approach (Parada & Wehbi, 2017; Brown & Strega, 2015) to address contemporary questions about gender and sexuality as they intersect with other social categories such as race, class, nationality, ethnicity/culture, ability, and religion. We understand gender and sexuality as cultural ideologies and as critical dimensions of social stratification rather than individual identities or expressions as they are often understood in dominant U.S. neoliberal discourses.  

As an undergraduate feminist research hub housed at the Center for Gender Research in the Department of Ethnic Studies and in partnership with the Ethnic Studies CollabLab, the CSU Academy of Undergraduate Feminist scholars applies feminist, gender, and anti-oppression theories and methodologies (decolonial, intersectional, queer, & transnational) to understand gender and sexuality through local and global lenses along with the consequences that cultural ideologies and social stratification have on individual and group outcomes of well-being. If funded, we will also be a transdisciplinary hub for undergraduate research in the College of Liberal Arts that will draw from faculty, graduate students and undergraduate researchers from within the social sciences, humanities, and arts as well as from other colleges and units across the university.

The academy’s goals are to:

1. Bridge the gap between theory and practice by teaching undergraduate researchers how to apply anti-oppression (decolonial, intersectional, queer, transnational) theories and methodologies to contemporary concerns in marginalized gendered and sexual communities.

2. Produce creative and inspired knowledge from critical, anti-oppression lenses that bring together activism and scholarship in imaginative and collaborative ways.

3. Produce undergraduate feminist scholars who understand and utilize the tools of research to collaborate with others in the creation and dissemination of resources that advance knowledge about gender and sexualities, promote networks, and supports healing.

The academy’s anti-oppression framework recognizes the connections among systemic racism, sexism, elitism, heterosexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, colonialism, nationalism, imperialism, and ethnocentrism. It supports rigorous examination of multi-scale analysis by connecting macro processes (economic, legal, policy) to meso-level social relations (institutional, organizational) regarding how they impact micro-level interactions social and cultural dynamics on diverse embodiments. The academy’s aims are to provide training for students on how decoloniality, intersectionality, queer, transnationalism, and trauma informed perspectives can be integrated in socially responsible and impactful local and global research. Our feminist scholarly principles emphasize that:

1. Research should connect to practice and action in the world.

2. Research should be collaborative and pursue justice-oriented goals.

3. Research must be culturally, historically, and contextually grounded on multiple scales of social and cultural interaction. 

4. Research must engage in anti-oppression practices, that are intersectional, transnational and generate critical thinking. 

5. Research must center subordinated indigenous and global south epistemologies in recognition that dominant US-centric approaches limit nuanced understandings of the issues affecting people around the world.

6. The researcher must locate and position themselves within the community where the research is conducted.

7. Research should address engagement and ethical responsibilities toward the communities that researchers work in as primary and consistent through the research process. 

The academy will incorporate a qualitative, intersectional, transnational and decolonial mixed methods approach to research that employs grounded theory, anti-oppression research methodologies and participatory action research to elaborate on its feminist principles. Students will learn qualitative and quantitative research methods like interviews, focus groups, testimonio, ethnography, survey research and descriptive statistics. They will also have opportunities to employ correlational and experimental research design throughout the academy. Our aim is to allow participants to gain familiarity with the variety of ways data is collected and analyzed. 

An important aspect of feminist, gender and anti-oppression research is its dissemination and social impact. The Undergraduate Academy of Feminist Scholars will focus efforts on both traditional forms of dissemination of research (articles, white papers, poster presentations) as well as art-based and creative ways to share research findings (vlogs, podcasts, performance pieces, digital art and technology, social media campaigns and public exhibits). 

A three tiered model for training and mentoring researchers incorporates faculty and students from various departments and colleges, and includes: Research Mentors and FeMentors (faculty and graduate students) who can provide training in research skills from completing the IRB process to collecting and analyzing data using NVIVO or SPSS; Research Associates (upper division undergrads) who will help lead the project in all aspects from conceptualization to execution to dissemination; and Research Assistants(lower division undergrads) who will be folded into the research process in ways that support the project as they learn how to conduct collaborative research.

Student Learning Outcomes: Students participating in this research academy will:

• Develop leadership skills through learning to conduct research, organize and manage a project to completion.

• Facilitate workshops/lessons to disseminate research findings in spaces within and outside the university.

• Identify and use campus resources such as the library, CLA Digital Hub, the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS), and other appropriate units that facilitate their research.

• Work collaboratively with other researchers and community partners.

• Employ listening and communication skills to constructively problem solve and set and meet deadlines in an effective manner.

• Respectfully navigate working with non-academic partners in community settings.

• Connect theory to practice through action-oriented research.

• Create and disseminate student-centered, art-based educational and healing resources that are accessible and can be tailored to any given community based on their needs and desires

Implementation & Impact:  

The research academy helps incorporate research practices throughout the Ethnic Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies curriculum and into all levels of the undergraduate experience.  For lower division courses such as the introductory courses, students will whet their appetites for research by participating in ongoing projects in small ways. Lower division courses generally have parity between majors and non-majors so we may expect a broader reach regarding anti-oppression-oriented research. Upper division students will participate more fully in helping to conceptualize the research projects and disseminate findings.  Fourth- and fift-year students will lead the project and take it to completion.  Here, majors and minors gain important research skills that sustain their interest and provide valuable best practices regarding oral, written, critical thinking, project management, and research skills for their entry into the workforce. 

Within the Ethnic Studies Department, Dr. Nikoli Attai will be a co-faculty coordinator for the academy. His community-based work in transnational feminism, Black queer studies and qualitative research methodologies supports the main goal of the academy to engage an intersectional, transnational and decolonial approach to addressing the issues affecting subjugated groups in the United States of America and around the world. The Ethnic Studies CollabLab represents a vison of solidarity and accountability among Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) and Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer + (2SLGBTQ+) communities and allies. Inspired by Black and transnational feminists, Black queer theory, and Caribbean feminist, queer and trans sexuality scholarship, it aims to foster an environment that is attentive to the issues affecting varied lives and communities that is refracted through shared experiences and differences.

Since Women’s and Gender Studies cuts across several colleges and units, this academy will make use of the various scholars and researchers among its core and program faculty. Given its extended reach, we will draw on program faculty from several departments within the College of Liberal Arts and across the university. In the first year, and pilot phase, of the academy, participants will spend time engaging in self-reflexive and embodied conversations about a wide array of issues pertinent to gender and sexuality as experienced by marginalized communities. From these conversations participants will collectively determine research focus areas emerge. These conversations will be supplemented and supported by skill-building seminars hosted by academy partners, which will allow them to learn new skills and techniques in feminist research, but also afford them with opportunities to experience research in motion currently being conducted by CSU scholars.