Professor Marguerite Waller (WMST and then-English) became the Director with Assistant Professor Chatterjee (WMST and then-Anthropology) as Assistant Director. Margie and Piya envisioned the center as a site where exciting feminist work-cutting across the borders of theory, policy and practice could take place. They imagined a place which would invite comparative and transnational feminist perspectives which would also engage the integral relationships between theory and practice.

The first major project of CWIC was the international conference on women, war and resistance called Frontline Feminisms, co-organized by Margie, Piya and a team of volunteers comprised of graduate and undergraduate students. In January 1997, over 150 scholars and activists from all over the world came to UCR to speak about women’s struggles against militarization, occupation and state violence. As the material we have posted on the link on Conferences/Gatherings should make clear, this was a remarkable event—with a roster of distinguished speakers from the worlds of scholarship and activism

The Center for Ideas and Society staff, especially Marie Orillion-Harker and Marilyn Davis offered us invaluable support. Many thanks to Professor Emory Elliott, the Director of CIS, for offering the CIS as ally and support.

Marguerite Waller and Jennifer Rycenga (a participant) went on to publish a well-regarded eponymously titled edited volume which has been published by both Garland Press and St. Martins/Palgrave.

     We left the Center for Social and Behavioural Sciences (where we had a small office) and moved into the Department of Women’s Studies. Professor Devra Weber (History) took over as Director and Piya continued as Assistant Director. Because of the rich debates from the conference, and our own commitments to transnational linkages with women from the global South, Devra and Piya floated the Rural Women’s Empowerment Project. This was envisioned as a research/action module within which rural women’s politics in North and South could be brought into conversation. Devra Weber has worked with rural women’s organizations in Oaxaca, with Lideres Campesinas in southern California, and has participated in some exciting collaborations among Mixteca and Hmong women working in the agricultural fields of the San Joaquin Valley. This work, across the US-Mexico border, has involved alliances with Mexican and Chicana feminist and gender/race/class justice scholars and activists. Piya’s work with rural tea plantation women in eastern India “took off” in 1999.

The hope was that linkages between California campesinas, Mexican rural-village women workers and Indian plantation mahila mazdoor could be made through innovative documentation (films), small conferences and networks, and joint activities of solidarity. We viewed this tri-lateral axes of connection between rural and working class women in Mexico, the United States and India as an exciting vision with tremendous possibilities. Unfortunately, due to a lack of fiscal (and time/energy!) support, this work continued in its “separate” spheres.

If anyone out there would like to re-activate these connections, do contact us!

Devra relinquished her position in 2000. Piya Chatterjee continued as Director of CWIC. She invited Assistant Professor Amalia Cabezas to be co-Director. Piya and Amalia tried to build on some initiatives during this time but due to lack of institutional support, these could not come to fruition. Because of other outstanding obligations, Amalia left the co-Directorship in 2001.

     Dean Patricia O’Brien offered us generous support with a one-time grant during this period. Piya continued as Director and invited Assistant Professor Tracy Fisher (WMST), Assisant Professor Manali Desai (then-Sociology), and Assistant Professor Ellen Reese (Sociology) to help constitute an advisory/governing board. Tracy, Manali, Ellen and Piya met regularly with a core group of students as one way to create a “coalition” within the CWIC’s governance.

That is, the effort here was to involve women across the university hierarchy, as partners in the process. Most consistently, they included Elvia Ramirez (Sociology), Erika Gutierrez (Sociology), Acela Ojeda (Sociology) and Sheila Givens (Sociology/WMST). Equally significantly, these students were instrumental in producing the “manifesta” document that is included in this link. Erika Gutierrez, a graduate student in Sociology, coordinated CWIC activities during Piya’s absence (for a sabbatical) and with then-Assistant Professor Ellen Reese and other professor and students in Sociology co-sponsored various talks on labor rights in the area.

In addition, all four of us (along with Margie Waller, and later Amalia Cabezas) were involved with the Center for Ideas and Society Ford/Cloning Grant (see Synergies link) which furthered CWIC research projects on women, poverty and globalization in critical ways.

Initiatives and Projects during this period included:

• Small Grants Competition. (February-September 2003.) CWIC supported feminist work by graduate students. Small stipends to 10 grantees “seeded” work that was archival, literary and community-based.

• Talks/Lectures. (Fall 2003 through 2004.) Topics of lectures and talks included “Workers’ Rights and Health Care in a Global Economy: Current Struggles in the Inland Empire;” “The Struggle for Grocery Workers’ Rights and Health Care: Why Has this Strike/Lockout Lasted So Long?”; “Love Sees No Borders: Immigration and LGBT People”; and Mixteca and Hmong farm workers, speakers for International Day.” Many thanks to Erika Gutierrez, Ellen Reese, Edna Bonacich, Julio Tsuha, Devra Weber, Christina Marable and Nancy Jean Tubbs who were the primary organizers of these talks.

• Film Series. (January to June 2003). CWIC screened films on women, antiviolence, labor issues and so on. These films created an important forum for the campus and surrounding community and were shown monthly. Senorita Extraviada and Dam/Age were our highlights!

• ACORN Health Insurance and TANF Collaborative Project. (January through August 2003) Ellen Reese (Sociology) and Amy Schurr (of ACORN, Los Angeles) worked on a survey of members of ACORN’s Child Care Providers for Action (CCPA) about their need for health insurance. CCPA is a multi-racial organization of child care providers in LA, led primarily by African-American and Latinas. This survey documents the extent to which child care providers in the LA area lack health insurance and effects of this on their families. Another project studies the impacts of 60 month-time limits for receiving Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF). ACORN staff, with Ellen Reese, will use CWIC funds to document stories of the impact of time limits on their members. Students from Ellen Reese’s class assisted in putting this material together. Findings from this research will be pooled with similar work being done by other anti-poverty groups in the LA area into a larger report which will be used to pressure state and county officials to improve welfare-to-work programs.

• Womyn of Color Conference. (April 2003) Undergraduate students involved with CWIC were organizers of the UC system-wide Womyn of Color conference. Because “womyn of color” organizing and presence is crucially important for our university environment, the CWIC Board unanimously voted to offer maximum support for the conference. A (unpublished) text of the this conference was also produced under the auspices of CWIC. Lead organizers of this conference were Vianey Ramirez, Gabby Ocon and Sunny Cho.

• Riverside Area Welfare Advocacy Network. (February 2002-September 2003). In conjunction with the LA County ACORN project, CWIC Board members Ellen Reese and Acela Ojeda “seeded” a welfare/advocacy/activist project in Riverside. Acela Ojeda put together a booklet for welfare recipients, and the homeless, in Riverside. The booklet is a substantial document which is modeled after the Los Angeles Coalition Against Homelessness “People’s Guide.” The booklet was distributed in the area. Ellen and Acela continued to search for more substantial funding to create a welfare activist and advocacy center in Riverside.

• Women of Color Faculty Survey. (February 2003-Present). Because of continuing concern system-wide about gender disparities in hiring and retention, CWIC is designing an in-depth survey about historical, and current, situation of women faculty—particularly women of color faculty—on this campus. Because of a dearth of statistics on this ways in which gender and ethno-racial-national difference intersect around these issues, we believe that this will be a timely document. The survey will be based on qualitative and quantitative protocols. It will be sued as a policy instrument for not only the local administration but will also supplement research and organizing around this issue. Piya Chatterjee and Elvia Ramirez (Ph.D, Sociology) are currently working on this project. Please contact us if you are interested in helping us with this.

     Because funding ran out, and principal faculty members became involved in other research-oriented work (through the CIS- Ford/ Cloning Grant), or left the university, CWIC became a bit quieter. Piya Chatterjee continued as Director.

• SALTY: A Feminist/Antiracist Zine. (2004-05/6) In order to create a more visible space for feminist work on this campus, we were also interested in spearheading a feminist media project. The aim was to create a permanent “broadsheet/journal/newspaper” which highlights progressive feminist writing in the community. To do this Desiree Letoi Brown, Piya Chatterjee, Sheila Givens, Jackie Newton, Natalie Newton and Christine Petit joined forces to bring out a grassroots, “zine” (see http://www.grrrlzines.net/) , SALTY. Our first, and only, issue was produced in Spring 2005. Again, because of a resource crunch, we could not continue this effort—but hopefully, if there is interest, we can forge ahead. Please contact us if you are interested in producing SALTY again.

• Advisory Board for 2006-2007. A new Board was constituted. Professors Alicia Arrizόn (Chair, WMST), Lan Duong (WMST), Tracy Fisher (WMST), Priya Srinivasan (Dance), Chikako Takeshita(WMST) and Sheila Givens (Graduate Student, Sociology).

• Funding and New Initiatives. Dean Steve Cullenberg offered us seed-funding for 2006-2007 and we have been able to stretch this into new initiatives that are now on the table. These include:

◘ Feminist Re/Visions: Alternative Theatre and Visual Culture  

Projects. Professor Lan Duong (FVC and WMST) will spearhead this initiative with colleagues working on gender, nation, race and sexuality in visual cultures.

◘ Across Other Borders: Humanists, Social Scientists and Scientists on Gender, Science and Medicine. Professor Chikako Takeshita (WMST) will spearhead this initiative which will bring interdisciplinary scholars interested in feminist perspectives, and gender issues, within science and medicine. Given the recent establishment of UCR’s School of Medicine, we are hopeful that this could grow into something substantial.

• Publication Projects. (2005 to the Present). Working with support provided by the Center for Ideas Ford/Cloning project, former and current Board members have worked on two book projects that will appear in end 2007, early 2008.

◘The Wages of Empire: Neoliberal Policies, Armed Repression, and Women’s Poverty. Co-edited by Amalia Cabezas (WMST); Ellen Reese (Sociology) and Marguerite Waller (WMST and Comparative Literature). Forthcoming from Paradigm Publishers. See the Publication Link for further details.

◘States of Trauma: Gender and Violence In South Asia. Co-edited by Piya Chatterjee (WMST); Manali Desai (formerly UCR-Sociology, now of University of Kent-Canterbury) and Parama Roy (English, UC-Davis). Forthcoming from Zubaan/Kali for Women, New Delhi. See the Publication Link for further Details.

• Mentoring Spaces. Because of a dearth of consistent mentoring of junior women faculty on campus, CWIC sponsored a successful mentoring initiative which met every fortnight through 2006-2007 academic year. Childcare and family issues, the publication process, departmental politics and strategies were among the issues discussed. CWIC would like to extend its gratitude to Kris King and Renee Deguire of WMST for all the help they extended in scheduling and advertising Mentoring Spaces. Tammy Ho (WMST) and Piya Chatterjee (WMST/CWIC) spearheaded this initiative. An informative website has been set up on ilearn. Colleagues from other campuses have also joined this website to have access to this important information. If you are interested in being on-board, please do contact us.

• WMST/CWIC Brown Bag Series. Informal Brown Bag Talks were scheduled through 2006-2007. The main goal of these talks was to introduce the university community to feminist “work-in-process.” We organized over 14 such talks through the year. Many thanks to Kris King and Renee Deguire of WMST for expediting all aspects of these talks.

• A New Office! Professor Emory Elliott (Director) and Laura Lozon (Assistant Director) of the Center for Ideas and Society continued to extend their support and alliance to us. We were offered an office in an unused section of the CIS. Though we understand that the building will be soon demolished, we are grateful we could set up there. Student interns began work—and well, there is nothing like space! We are deeply grateful to Greg Givens, Board Member Sheila Given’s partner who labored on putting up posters, moving furniture and making this an inviting place for us to work.

• Student Interns/Energies. Five student interns offered their good faith and energies to CWIC in really important ways. Jessica Yamane helped go through boxes of material to set up a filing system—in hours and hours of thankless work! Thao Le began work on The Mom Project which sought to find ways of assisting low-income student-mothers. Isabel Aguilar helped with administrative stuff. Paullette Flores and Janeth Pineda tried to jumpstart SALTY. Anik Dhonobad to all.