George Ygarza (Global Studies PhD Student)

Being a multi-ethnic, first-gen, son of immigrants to the US, George Ygarza has embodied the global in many ways. Throughout his life, George has traversed several scales of politics in his work as an activist and growing scholar. George has taken part in or organized with several social movements since high school around the New York metro area, connecting with scholars and activists across the globe. From OCCUPY to #BlackLivesMatter and immigrant rights, his work on the ground has influenced his global perspective and vice versa. The solidarity networks George has built over the years has taken him abroad to participate at international gatherings and take part in social movement delegations. Most notably, George took part in the World Social Forum in Montreal and was part of the Alliance for Global Justice delegation with Dr. Jill Stein at the People’s Climate summit in Lima, Peru, where he conducted “undisciplined” research on extractivist mining in the highlands of the Peruvian Andes. Taking pedagogy seriously, George’s scholarly research and social activism come to bear in his teaching, which was recently recognized with the 2020-2021 Graduate Student Association Excellence in Teaching Award. Currently, George’s dissertation research investigates contemporary anti-mining resistance in Espinar, Peru, within the ontological turn in the social sciences, most recently taken up by decolonial studies by recognizing that difference extends far beyond superficial elements of culture towards new ways of being.

George’s most recent public work includes his recent interview on essential workers for the UCSB Blum Center for Global Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development, his ongoing work in the Black Lives Matter Paterson collective that includes a recent publication in Truthout on Abolition and Mutual Aid as well as numerous other grant writing and research assignments.
 

Past Fellows