ASU Social Transformation Lab announces 4 faculty fellows

The Social Transformation Lab at Arizona State University has formally announced its 2022–23 faculty fellows.

The lab, founded in 2021 under the leadership of President's Professor Bryan Brayboy and Assistant Professor Mako Fitts Ward, works to co-create inclusive offerings that reimagine equitable, just, intersectional and sustainable systems to deepen personal belonging and end legacies of exclusion and harm. Each academic year, the lab brings on faculty fellows to help further the co-curation of articles, texts and learning sessions to grow its reach.

“The faculty fellows program provides the time, peer support and resources necessary for faculty to pursue social impact research that advances the university’s aspiration to transform society. This year’s cohort reflects a diversity of research interests, campuses and faculty ranks,” said Ward, who specializes in African and African-American Studies and women and gender studies. 

Ersula Ore is a Lincoln Professor of Ethics and associate professor of African and African-American Studies. Her work acknowledges the divide between civility and Black women’s experiences as citizens in America. Her first book, "Lynching: Violence, Rhetoric, and American Identity," extensively investigates lynching as a racialized social practice that has been intrinsic to the fabric of the U.S. As a faculty fellow, Ore’s research and writing work will culminate in the development of a chapter for her second book. The chapter is titled "Sandy’s ‘Black Looks’: Civility, Contemporal Postures, and Reclamation of Time."

Angie Bautista-Chavez is an assistant professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies. As a faculty fellow, she is currently working on a draft of her book manuscript, "Exporting Borders: The Administrative Architecture of U.S. International Migration Control." The book examines the U.S. immigration system while thoughtfully critiquing inequities within transnational cooperation, which makes obtaining and maintaining U.S. immigration status complicated for some and virtually seamless for others. Bautista-Chavez was recently selected to participate in the American Political Science Association’s Minority-Serving Institution Virtual Book Workshop Project.

Jerome Clark is an assistant professor in the School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies. He is working on a chapter titled “Kǫǫ shíni’ hazłįį’: Diné Situatedness and Colonial Extraction," which will appear in the anthology "Storied Deserts: Reimagining Global Arid Lands" that is forthcoming from Routledge. The chapter shows the connection between land and being amongst Diné people. Clark writes, “For Diné … the land is a repository of memories, history, experiences, and knowledge. I explicate how colonial extractive industries, government leaders and officials, and other white colonial agents operated to hinder and eliminate Diné existence and situatedness.” Clark is the recent recipient of an American Council of Learned Societies fellowship for the 2023–24 academic year for his monograph, "Bundling: A Diné Theory and Practice of Storying and Future-Making."

Mathew Sandoval is an artist, scholar and associate teaching professor for Barrett, The Honors College. Also known as Professor Muerte, his work follows the ethnographic history and cultural significance of Día de los Muertos between the United States and Mexico. His forthcoming monograph, "A Transcultural Pop History of Day of the Dead: From Heritage to Hollywood and Back Again," highlights the historical reverence and contemporary celebrations of the cross-cultural holiday. The book is also being made into a documentary. “This is a golden opportunity to work with a dope group of scholar-artist-activists to translate our ideas and expertise into solutions for transforming our community, our university and society more generally,” said Sandoval last September in an ASU News article.

In addition to working alongside these dynamic fellows, the lab continues to grow in its mission to expand knowledge and possibility to those at ASU and beyond. Kyra Trent is producing a dynamic dual-format podcast that will be available for listening this summer and promoted under Arizona PBS. The production team includes graduate students Jamal Brooks-Hawkins, Kyle McKinney, Amber Green and Hannah Grabowski and postdoctoral scholar Celina Osuna.

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