Douglas Epps is a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare. He holds a dual bachelor’s degree in psychology and social welfare (magna cum laude) and a Master of Social Work from the University of Washington. His research applies a critical, action-oriented framework to interrogate the rise of punitive immigration responses and envision macro alternatives that respect the dignity and worth of all human beings. His current project seeks to understand how collective action framing can influence public attitudes toward eliminating immigration...
I study the intersection of climate and migration. Specifically, I analyze the role that drought plays in the displacement of people from Central America's Dry Corridor and how coastal communities globally are likely to retreat from rising sea levels. Relating the evidential links between a changing climate and human displacement to pressing global governance priorities is also a central focus of my work.
Publications:
Depsky, N. and Pons, D., 2020. Meteorological droughts are projected to worsen in Central America’s Dry Corridor throughout the 21st century. Environmental...
I am a fourth year Legal Studies and Ethnic Studies double major at the University of California, Berkeley. As a Haas Scholar and Marco Antonio Firebaugh Scholar, I am conducting my own independent research project that aims to analyze the relationship between illegality and entrepreneurship. I aim to reveal the challenges undocumented entrepreneurs face by examining how being viewed as “illegal” by law and society generates barriers to processes of assimilation and integration into the American social fabric which denies certain rights, privileges, and access to resources that foster a...
Morelia Chihuaque is a UC Berkeley graduate and majored in Political Science at UC Berkeley. Morelia' s main interests are human rights and immigration rights as a daughter to immigrants. She has witnessed the barriers and lack of resources immigrants in her community have faced. One of her goals is to give back to her community, help uplift and fight for the rights of marginalized communities. She has interned for Stockton's Mayor, Michael Tubbs, in creating an Immigration Resource Guides for the community. Morelia is a BIMI Communications Fellow.
I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, working at the interface of migration, gender, and development. My dissertation uses ethnographic methods to examine Indonesian guest workers’ incorporation into Asia’s postindustrial countries. I compare the migration experiences of women domestic workers and factory operators. To understand how brokers and states construct transnational labor markets in gendered ways, I conducted 22 months of participant observation in four Indonesian recruitment agencies and more than 120 interviews with government officials...
My professional interest in immigration stems from my personal experience of arriving to the United States as a political refugee. Thus far, I worked on examining the experiences of Roma refugees in Canada. I also published a paper on the experiences of migrant adult children and their aged parents in Eastern Europe. I am currently working on examining the relationship between well-being and the social experience of time in the highly multicultural city of Toronto.
PhD student in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. Before beginning graduate school, I worked as a casework intern in a refugee resettlement agency, as a legal assistant to immigration attorneys, and as a research assistant investigating the effects of trauma on refugees in the U.S. I hold a B.A. in International Studies and a B.A. in Arabic and Islamic Studies, both from the University of Kentucky. My research interests include the experiences of Middle Eastern emigrants, the politics of immigration law, and the intersection of nationalism and forced migrations.