Mapping Carcerality and Resistance in Southern California: Orange County and In(LA)nd Regions

Joana Chavez
Chicana/Chicano and Central American Studies
UC Los Angeles

Jazmin Garcia
Ethnic Studies
UC Riverside

This working group is a collective of first-generation, Indigenous, and criminal-legal-system-impacted doctoral students across three UC campuses (UC Irvine, UC Los Angeles, and UC Riverside) who seek to explore the carceral conditions in Southern California. The purpose of this working group is to bring together a community of scholars from multiple disciplines including education, sociology, ethnic studies, and Chicana/o and Central American studies to inform our research and writing process as we engage with similar questions of carcerality. Our commitment to abolitionist praxis begins with exploring the disruptive nature in our work that brings us together to collectively map out how carcerality has shaped the Los Angeles, Orange County, and Inland Empire regions. Our meetings are intended to be a generative space for asking questions, expanding methodologies, and workshopping ideas to ultimately support our long-term study as a group.