The Center for Liberation, Anti-Racism and Belonging (C-LAB) is launching this fall under the leadership of Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, professor of history and Asian American studies, and Laura E. Enriquez, associate professor of Chicano/Latino studies.
C-LAB seeks to foster research communities that are grounded in addressing issues related to race, Indigeneity and migration. The center intends to do so by identifying research questions, exploring research methodologies and experimenting with diverse publication dissemination methods that bring attention to social injustice and work towards social justice.
“We aim to create a space for folks who share this mission and are looking for a place to belong in the university,” says Wu, the center’s director. “We want to build connections between all sectors of the university – faculty, graduate students, undergraduates and staff – and partner in ethical ways with community leaders, artists and advocates in order to model what it means to be a research justice university.”
Based in the School of Humanities, C-LAB is supported by the UCI Office of Research and the Schools of Biological Sciences, Education, Law, Medicine, Physical Sciences, Social Ecology, and Social Sciences and the Program in Public Health.
C-LAB welcomes interested partners to its kick-off event on Wed., Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. at the Dr. White Room in the Cross-Cultural Center. C-LAB will also be announcing two research clusters affiliated with the center: “Black Digital Humanities and the Hemispheric/Oceanic Politics of Liberation” and “Coastal Aesthetics, Environmental Justice and Indigenous Futures.” They welcome additional ideas for research clusters, workshops and collaborations.