Lea Urguby
S075 Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology
As a feminist scholar, steeped in a decades-long personal history of social justice activism, I approach research through an intersectional lens. My community work surrounding issues of race, class, and gender stoke my academic passion to understand the social world by examining history and envisioning collaborative futures and continues to inform the voice and tone of my writing. My current research trajectory includes interrogating how a world built upon whiteness has the near certainty of perpetuating whiteness, or proximity to whiteness, as the only acceptable solution to any query. I envision a central question guiding much of my research: how and why are actors perpetuating a culture of whiteness in spaces of social justice work? In other words, how is white supremacy inadvertently exported through the lens of social justice? By researching feminist activists, anti-vax groups, and previously liberal independents, I will use qualitative methods to begin to gather a sense of what these stories are telling. Additionally, by applying quantitative research, I will look at big data and the way in which social network platforms have quickly risen as a main source of news and a way to disseminate information. The use of mixed methods will result in a robust body of data.
While pursuing my dual bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Critical Gender Studies, I was able to conduct an independent study project led by Professor Harvey Goldman. I interrogated similar questions about whether the collective syllabi of social sciences informs social movements based on theories created by predominantly white academics. We looked at how social justice struggles change over time and how our professional experiences as sociologists shape the way we envision solutions. By examining the intersections and mapping the temporal high points of political engagement, revolutionary violence, and uprisings, the research examined who is participating in these waves and what this says about our understanding of the way the world is shaped and changed. What contrasts exist between the respective approaches of progressives and the conservative right? How do aspects of capitalist white supremacy, along with hetero-patriarchy, show up in these flashpoints? How can we better understand the social world through the lens of writers outside that dominant paradigm; with women writers, writers of color, writers of varying sexual and gender identities, indigenous writers, and so on? I suggest the absence of these voices facilitates a white savior mode that shapes the ways academics and social justice actors move through the world. What drives me as an activist also fuels my queries in academia: what social networks shape us as social actors to become agents of change? Whether those networks are education, family structures, gender or sexual identities, or online social platforms, I am interested in interrogating their relations to social justice movements. I aim to examine how the core intersections of race, class, and gender interact and how tremendously important is our attention to all borders, both physically, electronically, and sociologically constructed.
I intend to continue to study these social movements, both historically and as they have evolved over the last two years while the world plunged into a global pandemic. What I started to work on with Professor Goldman - looking historically at predominantly white-led social justice movements, and the ways in which, because they are not led by black and brown individuals, their social justice solutions essentially perpetuate aspects of whiteness - has brought me to this moment. I’ve identified a diverse series of recent uprisings - radical, progressive, and conservative – wherein there emerges a pattern: (who I am labeling as) white progressives, who seem to espouse liberal ideologies, but in fact, adopt practices and positions that reinforce the hierarchy as it stands. I am specifically interested in the correlation of these white progressive activists with seemingly progressive views, who are imputing the movements and statements of right-wing conservatives with an appearance of solidity and truth. From the decision whether to getvaccinated or not, the Governor’s recall, or who to vote for as president, how do they have a base of knowledge that is more progressive-leaning and yet their actions are antithesis to all of that knowledge? Moreover, I seek to examine the way that conservative groups have been utilizing traditionally leftist tactics, as well as how “progressive” and “conservative” activists are reading the same ‘data’ and how that data informs their views in both different and congruent ways. Additionally, in what is now being dubbed the Wellness to QAnon pipeline, there is a direct link between some wellness communities and conspiracy theorists.
These activists, looking to break down structures and rebuild the world into something more sustainable, hold divergent perspectives as to how this future should look. Despite this intense polarization, the resultant movements are nonetheless characterized by a marked unification of knowledge sources, internal structures,and organizing tactics that is rich for sociological study. This phenomenon, and its relationship to the historical predominance of white leadership and scholarship, will form a significant aspect of my research agenda.
As a core organizer who has worked for social justice change, I have learned that consensus is powerful and possible with patience and compassion. As a sociologist, this skill remains essential to me. Bringing my activism experience to bear in the academic context, whether employing organizing skills when conducting research or pursuing subjects informed by decades in grassroots movement-building, distinguishes my ability to contribute to the department and field. I aim to be a university professor conducting research that contributes to the discipline of sociology, producing and publishing work, and engaging with students. My dedication to fusing my on-the-ground experience with being an educator and producing scholarship is not theoretical or hypothetical, it is proven and abiding.
I had the opportunity to be a part of the Mexican Migration Field Research Project from Fall 2018 to Spring 2019 completing my research for my piece, “English Education in Mexico and the Seal of Bi-literacy, a colonial project in an era of capitalist globalization”. The paper examines the central question of white supremacy and education and how they are linked. We found that education systems throughout Mexico continue to position English as a key to success. In this piece I suggest that educating students in this way continues a colonial project, instilling what I define as a primacy of English. Additionally, it creates a hierarchy of languages and therefore the possibility for a hierarchy of self-worth, of both student and country. The bridge from this paper to the research I hope to continue is that the content of learning has a direct effect on the social actors in the learning setting. I further suggest a need to continue to decolonize the canon of social movements if our aim is truly a just society.
San Diego has been an epicenter in the world of protest on both sides of the pandemic, the uprisings of 2020 and the fight for Black lives, and the backlash to that in the fight for a liberal or conservative agenda. The connections I have to these communities that span the last two decades across the board would be invaluable to this research, making me a strong candidate for this work. I am particularly interested in earning my Ph.D. at UCSD because of how my foci align with your department’s ongoing work. Thomas Medvetz’s research around conservative think tanks would be essential to my research of white activists in these seemingly opposing communities. I’m curious as to where they overlap and why those overlaps matter. Lane Kenworthy’s research of what makes a good society is informative in the work of world-building with the research and data he has uncovered. Working with Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra to design quantitative research would uncover many of the connections in the pandemic responsive activism and would be absolutely integral. He and I have spoken about how UCSD is emerging in computational social science, and I would be interested in adding an aspect of computational social science to my study of conspiracies, what holds them, and what maintains them. The knowledge imparted by his course on big data will be foundational. By mapping words used across online social platforms and following algorithm data, we will see patterns that test the fit between patterns and theories we have hypothesized. Moreover, I am excited to continue to work with Harvey Goldman and Jeffrey Haydu on the history of social movements, the cohesive core of my multi-dimensional body of study.
I am committed to radically redefining our futures through anti-racism work, peace activism, and causes within the LGBTQ community. In the decade plus break between finishing my bachelors degrees, I built businesses, community and family. Through my activism and role as an educator, I remain connected to a multitude of thinkers and writers, both outside of and within academia, and have guest lectured on sexual education and body positivity for over ten years at college campuses. I have created curricula and managed projects to help students learn about feminist theory, human sexuality, consensus building, art curation, and more. As an ethnographer, I’ve learned when all participants are given space to authentically contribute through active listening and discussion that common goals are established. My life experiences demonstrate my ability to balance a multitude of demands, as well as a dedication to the work of researching, documenting, and envisioning social justice futures, positioning me as an ideal candidate for graduate work. I cannot think of a better cohort to have or the connections to conduct research at than UCSD.