David Pellow is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies, and is also the director of the California Cultures in Comparative Perspective program. His primary areas of study are sociology and ethnic studies, and his research focuses on environmental conflict in ethnic communities in the U.S., Africa, and Asia. Pellow has recently published a book, titled “Power, Justice, and the Environment”.

Pellow: The California Cultures in Comparative Perspective initiative (CCCP) is an exciting program that combines world-class scholarship with innovative teaching and service to respond to, and stay abreast of, the rapidly-changing demographic and cultural landscape in the state and around the globe. The initiative features tenure track faculty members whose research centers on California’s ethnic communities, and features a comparative geographic element.

One of the greatest challenges facing California in the 21st century is diversity. UCSD is uniquely positioned to assume a leadership role in addressing the complex questions that affect the future of California’s population. When measured by virtually any standard, California is one of the most demographically and economically dynamic places on earth. But with this vibrant social and economic reality, California is also facing a host of challenges, including socioeconomic polarization, the erosion of the public education system, struggles over bilingual education, tension over immigration policy, and conflicts over racial profiling. Given this changing social and cultural reality, UCSD is doing three things: 1) developing new research approaches that push traditional boundaries; 2) producing curricular innovations that speak to the state’s demographic changes; and 3) developing service initiatives that build links between the university and communities.

Pellow: The main challenge has been ensuring that we all understand that CCCP is only one of several UCSD initiatives that address different aspects of building a diverse university community. CCCP is a critical and core part of UCSD’s mission in this regard, but it must be viewed as part of a broader constellation of efforts, some of which predate CCCP and others that are new. Examples include the African American Studies Program, the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, the Chicano/Latino Arts and Humanities Program, and the Department of Ethnic Studies. Considering the accomplishments of these programs and units, UCSD can be very proud of its efforts to create an institutional presence for the serious study of culture, race, and ethnicity. The larger challenge, of course, is actually attracting and retaining a more diverse faculty and student body. In that regard, we have a long way to go.

Pellow: We are pleased to have Professor David Pedersen join us this year. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, specializing in the study of immigration. His most recent research focuses on tracing the history of Salvadoran immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C. area, to their home town in El Salvador — an innovative study of a transnational community. Pedersen joins a group of five scholars who reside in the departments of Ethnic Studies, History, Music, Theatre and Dance, and Visual Arts. In the next academic year, we expect to have three new faculty members, who will be placed in the Departments of Economics, Linguistics, and Political Science.

Pellow: California Cultures is hosting a rich, dynamic Speakers Series this year. We have invited several exciting scholars and community leaders to campus in the Winter and Spring quarters, whose work speaks directly to the CCCP mission. On February 23rd, we will host our third Activist/Scholars Dialogue at the Cross-Cultural Center. This event will feature leading community voices in the prison justice movement, anti-poverty efforts, student/youth advocacy, and the anti-sweatshop and peace movements. This is one of our most popular events — it allows students to hear perspectives they rarely get on campus, and directly from the people who are making the news on these issues. This is also a wonderful chance for undergraduates to meet representatives of community organizations at which they can do internships for academic credit.

CCCP will also host its annual Graduate Student Roundtable on March 6, where those grads who were awarded CCCP summer fellowships will present their research to the campus community. We will also be co-sponsoring renowned public intellectuals like Professor Angela Davis (March 1st), and Professor Mike Davis (May 15).

Pellow: The book is titled, “Power, Justice, and the Environment”, and is a critical assessment of the progress and prospects of this social movement. For almost 30 years, the environmental justice movement (EJM) has challenged the environmental and health inequities often linked with social inequities, calling attention to the disproportionate burden of pollution borne by low-income and minority communities. The successes of the movement have been celebrated, but the literature on environmental justice lacks a real assessment of the movement's effectiveness. This book provides just such a critical appraisal, examining the EJM's tactics, strategies, rhetoric, organizational structure, and resource base. With chapters by both scholars and activists, the book links theory and practice with the aim of contributing to a more effective movement..

Pellow: I worked on a book I’ve been writing for a while now on the global movement for environmental justice. It looks at the ways in which activists from global North and South nations are collaborating to promote environmental justice in parts of the world where rich nations and transnational corporations are shifting some of the most hazardous chemical pollution. I also took a week off to travel to Budapest, where I co-facilitated a conference that brought together scholars and activists from the U.S. and Central and Eastern Europe to discuss and debate the transnational nature of environmental conflicts. We concluded the conference by launching a university-community collaborative network called the Transatlantic Initiative on Environmental Justice. The idea is to promote partnerships between scholars and policy advocates to produce better research on environmental justice concerns, with the goal of moving states and corporations toward practicing environmental justice.

Pellow: I grew up hiking and camping in the Great Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee and North Carolina, so I always had a deep respect and love for nature. I was also influenced by my parents’ stories of their involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, and this carried forth in my own life, as I became active in racial justice and social justice movements, especially the anti-Apartheid efforts of the 1980’s. I was also heavily involved in environmentalist activities, co-founding a student environmental organization and an animal rights group on my college campus, and participating in protests against corporations that were clear-cutting our forests in critical global habitats. What troubled me, however, was that these two social movements rarely seemed to overlap in membership, despite what I thought were obvious points of commonality. I was delighted when, right about that time, the Environmental Justice Movement was taking root across the nation. This grassroots movement did precisely what the racial justice and environmental movements had not done: combine the goals of ecological sustainability with social justice.

Pellow: I like to jog in the park near my home and play video games at Boomers with my son.