Graduate Affiliates

The Affiliated Graduate Student Program supports the research of advanced graduate students at UC Berkeley. We hope that through an affiliation with CLACS (and office space within our building), graduate students can further their research and develop relationships with colleagues across departments and disciplines.  

2023-24 Graduate Affiliates

Christine Delia

Ph.D. Student
History of Art Department

Christine Delia is a PhD student in the History of Art Department at the University of California, Berkeley. She researches global modern art with an emphasis on artists working in Mexico, Morocco, and the United States. Her dissertation, tentatively titled: “Mirror Effects: Fragmentation,...Read more about Christine Delia

Leo Dunsker

Ph.D. Student
English Department
Program for Critical Theory
Leo Dunsker is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English and the Program for Critical Theory. His dissertation project is about the reinvention of the epic poem by modern Anglophone Caribbean writers as a vehicle for narrating supposedly unarratable histories. He co-organizes the...Read more about Leo Dunsker

Adriana Gonzales

Ph.D. Student
Energy and Resources Group

Adriana Gonzales is a 1st year Master’s/PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group department. She is currently interested in situating Caribbean energy systems in sociopolitical histories of empire, labor, and environment to better understand the present...Read more about Adriana Gonzales

C. Darius Gordon

Ph.D. Student
Graduate School of Education
C. Darius Gordon (they/them) is a PhD candidate in the Graduate School of Education’s Critical Studies of Race, Class, & Gender program. Broadly, they study the 20th century intellectual histories of Black liberation movements throughout the Atlantic world. Drawing on Black feminisms and...Read more about C. Darius Gordon

Gabriel Lesser

Ph.D. Student
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Gabriel Lesser is a Ph.D. candidate in Hispanic Languages and Literatures. He studies humor in Latin American literary and visual culture. His dissertation is about racial satire, caricatures, and nation-building in nineteenth-century Mexico and Brazil. He received a Fulbright-Hays...Read more about Gabriel Lesser

Cristina Mendez

Ph.D. Student
Graduate School of Education
Cristina S. Méndez (she/her/ella) is a PhD candidate in Education in the Critical Studies of Race, Class and Gender program. She is also part of thedesignated emphasis in Indigenous Language Revitalization. Her research focuses on the lived experiences and...Read more about Cristina Mendez

Ahkeel Mestayer

Ph.D. Student
Ethnomusicology

Ahkeel Mestayer is a professional musician and ethnomusicologist from San Francisco. His research and performance interests are Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian music. Ahkeel has traveled across Europe and Latin America performing and is a voting member of the Grammy Academy. His current...Read more about Ahkeel Mestayer

Henry Sales

Ph.D. Student
Graduate School of Education

Henry Leonel Sales Hernandez is a first-year PhD student in the Graduate School of Education’s Critical Studies of Race, Class, and Gender program. His interests are indigenous language revitalization, the cultural and social challenges that indigenous Mayas face while living...Read more about Henry Sales

Emily Fjaellen Thompson

Ph.D. Student
Department of Anthropology

Emily Fjaellen Thompson is a PhD Candidate in socio-cultural anthropology. Her dissertation considers the use and lives of images, particularly unpublished photographs, in the wake of the Peruvian internal armed conflict. As a Fulbright DDRA-Hays Fellow in Peru, she focused on...Read more about Emily Fjaellen Thompson

Past Graduate Affiliates

2022-23 Graduate Affiliates

Dennis Vahid Best

Ángela Castillo-Ardila

Patricia de Nobrega Gomes

Angela Pastorelli-Sosa

Everardo Reyes

Alice Taylor

2022 Summer Dissertation Fellows

Bruno Anaya Ortiz

Mônica Carvalho Gimenes

Antonia Mardones Marshall

Verónica Muñoz-Nájar Luque

2021-22 Graduate Affiliates

Michael Bakal

Ángela Castillo-Ardila

C. Darius Gordon

Clare Ibarra

Yessica Liliana Porras

Emily Fjaellen Thompson

Enrique Eduardo Valencia López

Applications accepted on a rolling basis

Overview:

Graduate Affiliates have access to the following:

  • 24/7 access to meeting and work space
  • Private or semi-private office space at CLACS
  • Printer and other tech
  • Monthly meetings to discuss research
  • A small stipend for research expenses

Application Process:

To apply, please send an email to clacs@berkeley.edu. Please include your name, school or program, and what stage of or year in the program you have reached, along with a short description of your project. Let us know how you plan to use the space.