Event Date
The HIA 2026-27 Graduate Student Conference
Andrews Conference Room, 2203 Social Sciences & Humanities Building, UC Davis
Friday, Oct 30th, 2026
9:30 am – 4:00 pm
The HIA 2026-27 Graduate Students Conference features the work of the recipients of the HIA 2026 Summer Fellowships. Each presentation will have a duration of 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A. Attendance is open and does not require registration. This is an in-person event.
Program
9:30 – 10:00 Breakfast and mingling
10:00 – 10:10 Welcoming Remarks by Executive Associate Dean Elizabeth Miller
10:10 – 10:40 Luisa Rangel (Spanish & Portuguese)
“Returning Is Not the Same as Going Back: Emotional Capital, Embodied Knowledge, and Zapotec Women in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.”
10:50 - 11:20 Sara Alcay (Sociology)
“Obstetric Care and the Medicalization of Childbirth among Puerto Rican Mothers: Evidence from Puerto Rico and the United States.”
11:30 - 12:00 Valerie J. Fike (History)
“A Silent Feminism: Young Women’s Politics in Chile’s Liceos and Universities Under Frei and Allende, 1964-1973.”
12:00 - 12:40 Lunch (provided by the HIA)
12:50 – 1:20 Yeji Bak and Pratibha Bist (Agricultural and Resource Economics)
“Coca-Coffee Substitution under Climate Change.”
1:30 – 2:00 Julissa Felix Gallegos (Spanish & Portuguese)
“Representations of Child Labor in Mexican Indigenous Literature.”
2:10 – 2:40 Rebekka Twine (Psychology)
“Axé, Memory, and Method: What Brazil Taught Me About Studying Black Youth Healing.”
2:50 – 3:20 Paula Andrea Vivas (Spanish & Portuguese)
“Designing University Spanish Courses for Indigenous Heritage Speakers: Kichwa in Ecuador as a Starting Point.”
3:30 – 4:00 Aino Kangas (History)
“The Environmental Roots of the Puerto Rican Solidarity Movement: The 1973 Superport Struggle.”