Community Engaged Scholarship

American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program (ACES)

Video Library

The American Cultures Center aims to strengthen the development of the curriculum through its support of course development workshops, community dialogue events and engagement with the rich diversity of students embarking on projects of social justice.

This video library aims to provide broad access to this work and foster our community of social justice practice at UC Berkeley and nationally.

College Writing

'Researching Water in the West,' cross-listed as College Writing 50AC and 150AC Instructor: Pat Steenland Semester: Spring 2015 - Present In College Writing (CW) 50/150AC, students learn of a history that is absent from the popular narrative of California 'water wars,' — the Paiute Native Americans who for hundreds of years developed a sophisticated system of irrigation canals that made the valley bloom. Their history was erased from the site's history by people who waged economic and land wars to control water rights. A primary goal in this class is to...

ACES Love, Study, Struggle: Community-Grounded Learning Lab

About

We are excited to welcome Dr. Michael Schulze-Oechtering as the facilitator for a new spring 2023 American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) seminar entitled “Love, Study, Struggle: Community-Grounded Learning Lab.” The seminar will meet three times a month for students enrolled in ACES courses and Ethnic Studies students engaged in community-field courses. During this seminar, Dr. Schulze-Oechtering will frame the historical role that community-engaged pedagogy played in the early development of Ethnic Studies and facilitate seminar discussions allowing students to...

Student Guide for Community Organizing

Written Itzel Calvo Medina Author's Statement:

"I wrote this guide as a collection of anecdotes and lessons I have learned from being an undocumented, working-class woman of color who is also an organizer and a student. I want this guide to inspire people to organize in their communities and develop the tools they need in the ongoing fight for liberation and freedom.

This guide is not a step by step manual for you to join a movement and be successful, but rather a testimony to the many things you can and will face when you’re starting to organize." -...

History of American Cultures

Social Movements, Organizing & Policy Change, African American Studies 182AC and 197

In a time of a global pandemic, the 2020 election - the most historic election of our lives - was in peril. Freedom Summer 2020 gave students a chance to be part of a nationwide virtual movement for voter engagement ahead of the historic 2020 election. Joined with students from across the country, students in this summer course helped build the power and voice of low-wage worker voters who have been the most impacted by COVID-19.

Although the coronavirus pandemic has brought most voter outreach efforts across the country to a halt, Freedom Summer 2020 continued with a completely...

Creative Projects as Political Possibility

As we engage with the work of anti-racism and equity-based learning, what concrete examples are available and what strategies are necessary to create anti-racism and equity-based pedagogy in the classroom?

Creative Projects as Political Possibility, offered by the American Cultures Center, will present an overview of the ...

Cal Day 2015: Exploring an Untold Water Story


Saturday, April 18, 2015
11:00am - 1:00pm
Morrison Reading Room, Doe Library

California currently faces one of its most severe droughts on record, raising difficult environmental and policy issues. Given these circumstances, it is especially important to learn more about a period and place where conscious...

Integrative Biology

Integrative Biology 35AC & 190 - 'Human Biological Variation'

Instructors: Leslea Hlusko and Tesla Monson
Semesters Offered: Spring 2015 - Present

One of the world’s top ten most widely read websites, with approximately 550 million unique visitors per month, Wikipedia articles are often the number one hit when using a search browser. However, Wikimedia’s race and gender trouble are well-documented. While the reasons for the gap are up for debate, the practical effect of this disparity is not: content is skewed by the lack of...

Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies 135AC - Contemporary U.S Immigration

Instructor: Victoria Robinson
Semester: Fall 2015

Professor Victoria Robinson's 'Contemporary U.S. Immigration' course (Ethnic Studies 135) covers the topic of immigration in the United States, debunking common myths about immigration, revealing the truth about immigration, and following the history of immigration to present day. One notable subject in the discussion of present-day immigration is the program that President Obama has recently created: Deferred Action...