Fwd: What would a more just economy look like? Join us on May 26th.

[Undergrad Advising Global Studies]

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: Kashia Arnold <kar...@ucsb.edu>
Date: Tue, May 19, 2026 at 8:01 AM
Subject: Fwd: What would a more just economy look like? Join us on May 26th.
To:

Greetings,

Can you please share the below invitation with students in your department who may be interested in attending the Blum Center's 2026 Cooperative Economics Symposium next Tuesday.

The event is open to all and light refreshments will be served.

Regards, 

Kashia

2026 Cooperative Economics Symposium

Tuesday, May 26th, 2026

Please join us for our 2026 Cooperative Economics Symposium, featuring research by this year's Cooperative Economics Research Award recipients.

Cooperative economics explores how people build economic institutions rooted in shared ownership, mutual benefit, and democratic governance, as alternatives to the extractive and profit-driven models that dominate our economy. From farmworker-led organizing and labor union cooperatives to community-based ecotourism and immigrant mutual aid networks, this body of work centers the communities most often left out of conversations about economic growth and asks what a more just economy could look like.

This year's awardees explore how workers and communities across the globe are building cooperative alternatives, from whale-watching ecotourism in Baja California to farmworker organizing on the Central Coast, labor union cooperatives in Pakistan, and immigrant commerce in Chicago. We look forward to an afternoon of research, reflection, and conversation. Open to all.

Made possible by funds from the family of Dr. U.S. Awasthi.

Join us in person at SSMS 3145 or via Zoom.

Light refreshments will be provided.

RSVP Here Join via Zoom

Date

Tuesday, May 26th, 2026

Time

1:00–2:30 PM

Location

SSMS 3145, UCSB

Meet the Presenters

Jake W. Dean

Graduate Student · Anthropology

Ecotourism in Baja California Sur: Integrating Community and Ecological Needs in Pacific Gray Whale Conservation-as-Development

Jake's research addresses the challenges of Pacific gray whale conservation-as-development in Baja California Sur, exploring how to integrate ecological science with the socioeconomic realities of local communities, and how ecotourism can be structured to support both communities and whale populations.

Utathya Chattopadhyaya

Associate Professor · History

Cooperation, Caste, and Commerce in South Asian Chicago

This project explores the intersection of cooperation, caste, and commerce in Chicago between 1965 and 1990, examining understudied projects in cooperation among South Asian commercial caste groups and opening new windows onto the history of immigrant cooperative institutions and urban life.

Matthew Kinsella-Walsh

Graduate Student · Global Studies

Organizing Knowledges for Farmworker Organizing and Cooperative Farming

This project maps power and profits in California's Central Coast strawberry industry to strategically support farmworker-led organizing, tracing how value flows through the supply chain and creating accessible tools to help organizations explore alternatives like farmworker cooperatives.

Presenting on behalf of awardee Ricado Jacobs, Dept. of Global Studies

Ramsha Usman

Graduate Student · Anthropology

Labor Union to Socio-Economic Cooperation: How Workers Redefine Sustainable Work for Healthier Futures

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this project examines how an industrial labor union in Pakistan redefines sustainability through worker-led cooperative enterprises, tracing how workers' experiences of injury and fatigue inspire alternative economic models.

We hope to see you there — in person at SSMS 3145 or online via Zoom.

RSVP Here Join via Zoom

Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality & Democracy
University of California, Santa Barbara  ·  Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Questions? Contact kar...@blumcenter.ucsb.edu

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Made possible by funds from the family of Dr. U.S. Awasthi.

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Kashia Amber Arnold, Ph.D.

Assistant Director

Pronouns: she/her

UCSB  Blum  Center  on  Poverty,

Inequality, and Democracy

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Global Studies Undergraduate Advising Team

Meghan Zero + Taylor Ross + Undergraduate Peer Advisors

Email: global-...@ucsb.edu|Appointment info here  

Phone: (805) 893-7860

See this page for full contact info