Transnational, Cultural, and Community Studies

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Faculty

Jorge A. Capetillo-Ponce, PhD, New School for Social Research

social theory
race and ethnic relations
media studies
Latino studies

Loan Thi Dao, PhD, UC Berkeley

immigrant and refugee youth
Vietnamese and Southeast Asian refugee migration and community development
community-based participatory research
social movements

Donna Haig Friedman, PhD, Brandeis University

reshaping poverty policy
family homelessness
homeless prevention

Jemadari Kamara, PhD, University of Michigan

Pan-African social movements and intellectual thought
community development and urban planning

Peter Nien-chu Kiang, EdD, Harvard University

cultural studies
social studies
multicultural education

Philip Kretsedemas, PhD, University of Minnesota

immigration
critical race theory
globalization and social change
social welfare policy
contemporary theory

Jeffrey Melnick, PhD, Harvard University

global circulation of U.S. culture
the culture industries
Black-Jewish relations
immigration and migration culture studies

Marisol Negrón, PhD, Stanford University

Latino literary and cultural studies
Puerto Rican cultural studies
culture and commodification
popular music
copyright culture
diasporic identity formation
language and linguistics

Rosalyn Negrón, PhD, University of Florida

urban anthropology
ethnicity and social interaction
health disparities
U.S. Latinos
diversity
social network analysis
research methods

Aminah Pilgrim, PhD, Rutgers University

African-American history
African-American women’s history
African Diaspora
Cape Verdean studies
Hip Hop studies

Carlos Eduardo Gomes Siqueira, ScD, University of Massachusetts Lowell

community health
global public health
immigrant health and safety
Brazilian immigration to the U.S.

Ester Shapiro, PhD, University of Massachusetts Amherst

culture, family and positive development in clinical psychology
transnational/U.S. Latina women’s health and equity social movements

Rajini Srikanth, PhD, SUNY Buffalo

human rights and literature
American Literature (including Asian American literature, Native American literature, and literature of the American South)
interdisciplinary approaches to literature
literature in the context of comparative race and ethnicities
pedagogy of literature
literatures of the Middle East

Karen L. Suyemoto, PhD, University of Massachusetts Amherst

clinical psychology
Asian American studies
psychology of experiencing and resisting racism
developing as allies and advocates for social justice
racialized identity and racism in Asian Americans and multiracial people
qualitative methods in social science

Shirley S. Tang, PhD, SUNY Buffalo

war, race, migration and development
Southeast Asian American community studies
local/global and comparative gender and ethnic studies
Chinese/Asian diasporic popular culture
storytelling through media/cultural production

Lynnell Thomas, PhD, Emory University

African American studies
Southern studies
New Orleans history and culture, tourism, racialization in the post-civil rights era

Miren Uriarte, PhD, Boston University

Latino studies
applied sociology
race and ethnic relations
social and educational policy and their disparate impact across racial groups
human service organizations

Raul E. Ybarra, PhD, University of Illinois, Chicago

language, literature, and rhetoric
professional writing in public
community service

Program Description

The Master of Science in Transnational, Cultural, and Community Studies (TCCS) responds to the dramatic changes in the nature of population movements across the world and their profound impact on the experience and meaning of culture, community, identity, citizenship and other relations between individuals and societies in both the sending and receiving nation-states. The TCCS program directs itself to preparing high-level professionals and scholars with a deep understanding of the historical and contemporary processes of migration/immigration and other population movements and their effects on the migrant as well as both their sending and receiving societies. The program addresses the particular experiences of both historical and new racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. including Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos/as, Asian Americans and new immigrant groups from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East (also known as West Asia), thus inviting comparative perspectives.

A Transdisciplinary Perspective

Our students seek to work with these populations in the U.S. or abroad in roles as researchers, service providers, community planners, policy analysts and advocates, or staff in organizations and agencies, be it community-based, governmental, or non-governmental. The complexity of the questions posed by immigration, racial and ethnic disparities, uneven power relations, and the need to interact proactively and effectively with individuals, communities and societies affected by these phenomena call for analyses that often go beyond the scope of individual disciplines.

The TCCS program approaches these questions from a transdisciplinary perspective providing a coherent approach that incorporates critical/comparative views on inequality, and partners with community members to create knowledge and take action.

Program Goals

The program will impact the following specific knowledge and skills:

Understanding the process of migration, entry and adaptation of contemporary transnational immigrant groups necessary for:
planning and development of culturally competent services for these groups;
appropriate advocacy for policies and political rights for these groups;
involvement in sustainable, responsible growth and development of local programs, transnational projects, and private enterprises; and
supporting the empowerment of these groups to act on their own behalf.
Understanding of how identity, culture, and representation contribute to the transnational adaptation of individuals and groups and to the development of vibrant transnational communities.
Understanding of the processes of community formation and development necessary to act in support of the development of healthy immigrant communities. Specifically, students at the master’s level will learn to conduct community assessments using a transdisciplinary methodological approach.
Expert grasp of the processes and methods necessary for working across disciplinary and cultural boundaries to engage effectively in teams working on community-engaged projects.
Specific skills in areas such as program evaluation, survey research, human services, dispute resolution, and other areas offering certificates and/or concentrations.

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