A ‘place where rigorous social research and critical, decolonial scholarship’ will occur

At the beginning of this month, the University of Nevada Reno merged its sociology department and Department of Gender, Race, and Identity to form the Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis — dedicated to studying “social life” via “intersectional, decolonial and humanistic” methods.

According Nevada Today, the consolidation “reflects a long-recognized affinity between the two departments. Sociology and GRI share deep commitments to understanding social inequalities, the forces that produce and reproduce them, and the possibilities for transformation.”

The new department will be led by Professors Lydia Huerta (research interests include “critical communication pedagogy” and “feminist, gender and sexuality studies”) and Jared Bok (“globalization and transnationalism,” “religion, culture, organizations”) whom outgoing Dept. of Sociology Chair Marta Elliot (“prejudice, discrimination, stigma and well-being,” “sociology of mental health and illness”) said will “exceptionally well-position” the merger for the future.

The now-former Departments of Sociology and Gender, Race, and Identity taught students “to ask rigorous questions about race, gender, class, migration, health, labor, culture and power,” and the merger won’t change that, according to the report.

Huerta said the new department “will be a place where rigorous social research and critical, decolonial scholarship inform one another and where students graduate equipped to understand and change the world they inherit.”

The Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis will offer “robust” selection of majors and minors including gender, race and identity, comparative ethnic studies, Indigenous studies, gender and queer studies, and social justice and conflict studies.

College of Liberal Arts Dean Casilde Isabelli said these programs “preserve [both former departments’] unique intellectual traditions while creating new opportunities for collaboration, innovation and student success.”

According to her faculty page, Huerta has written the journal articles “The Exigency of the Anti-Gender Agenda in Latin America: A Transnational Perspective” and “The Impacts of Anti-Genderism on Education in Brazil: Fear and Danger among Professors of Gender” among other publications.

Bok’s offerings include “Religious Exit Costs” and “The Arts in Sacred Spaces: How Religious Conservatism and Cultural Omnivorousness Influence Attitudes about Congregational Involvement in the Arts.”

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