Aggies Near & Far

In this episode, we explore the Humanizing Deportation project, a powerful initiative documenting the human consequences of migration and border control regimes in the United States and Mexico since 2017. With nearly 500 digital stories already uploaded, this project provides a crucial platform for migrants to share their experiences and serves as an invaluable archive on migration.

We're joined by Professor Robert Irwin, Project Coordinator, and Brooke Kipling, a key member of the research team, who share their insights into the importance of this project. Their passion and commitment to bringing these stories to light are palpable in their explanations.

We highly recommend listening to the story of Doña Esther, an important ally of the project. The interview also highlights the activism of migrants Douglas Oviedo, Dales Louissaint, and Tanya Duarte. These stories, originally in Spanish, come with English subtitles for broader accessibility.

There are scholars from Mexico and US involved in this project. The current team of Humanizando la Deportación at UC Davis includes graduate students Brooke Kipling, Lucas Ruppel, María José Gutiérrez, Ricardo Aguilar, Sandra Pulido, and Mara Uriol Garate. Visit their webpage at humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu to learn more about this remarkable project.

This episode features Elmira Loui and Jannet Torres Espinoza from Aggies Near & Far as the interviewers, with the recording taking place in March 2024. Zienab Fadul, member of AN&F, participated in the outro.

Editing was done by Jeff Nagle and Jannet Torres.

Image credit for this episode: Humanizing Deportation Project logo created by Maureen Burdock (PhD UC Davis, Cultural Studies, 2021).

Tune in to hear these compelling stories and understand the profound impact of the Humanizing Deportation project.

Have you heard about Global Education or Global Learning at UC Davis? Listen to episode 2 from our Aggies Near and Far 2023-2024 team and find out all the valuable information :)

We interviewed the leaders of Global Education for All (GE4A), part of Global Affairs at UC Davis, to learn about the history of this program, to understand the philosophy behind, how their leadership shapes the program, and about the goals they've had during their nine years in operation.

Thanks to Joanna Regulska (Vice Provost and Dean of Global Affairs), Nancy Erbstein (Associate Vice Provost of Global Education for All), Jessica Fareri (Program Coordinator, Experiential and Intercultural Programs) for their participation and for sharing with us.

Benjamin Fong, member of Aggies Near & Far, is the magnificent interviewer.

This episode was recorded in January 2024. Jeff Nagle and Jannet Torres edited it.

As an update: After several months, GE4A leaders have been working in transform this project. As a result, it is now a new project called Global Impact Fellows. You can read more about it in their webpage globallearning.ucdavis.edu and follow them to participate in their opportunities.

Welcome to our season 2. We are thrilled to share our first recording as a new team at Aggies Near and Far for the 2023-2024 academic year. Our beginning takes a look at ourselves: who we are, our interests in global education, previous experiences about studying abroad, and reflections on learning from cultural differences. The participants in the recording are: Benjamin Fong (interviewer), Elmira Louie, Jannet Torres Espinoza, Jeff Nagle, Joe Bender, Mili Adhikari, Monet Lahn, Zienab Fadul and William Evans. Sara de Blas Hernández and Santiago Eslava do not appear in the recording but are also members of the team.

This episode was recorded in December 2023. Jeff Nagle and Jannet Torres edited it.

More episodes coming soon...

We sat down with UC Davis professor of water management Dr. Samuel Sandoval to talk about his experiences with tuition-free higher education in Mexico and the necessity of removing cost barriers to increase access to global higher education + a few bite-size interviews from Picnic Day 2022 about what global education looks like at UC Davis. Enjoy!

We take a look at study abroad in French-speaking countries by interviewing two undergraduate students who participated in UC Education Abroad Programs in Fall 2021. Evan Pearson studied through the Sciences Po program in Paris, France, while Sophia Mares de Juan took part in the Field Research and Internship Program, Brussels, Belgium. Our guests discuss the difficulties of navigating a foreign language and the rewarding experiences they had through their respective programs.

We take a look at the global Medical School experience by interviewing three members of the UC Davis Medical Center about their time studying medicine outside the United States. Dr. Allan Martin, Dr. Rosa Rodriguez, and Dr. Joseph Firriolo relate to us the ins and outs of their medical education experiences in Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Australia, respectively. Our guests discuss the cultural and logistical transitions that studying medicine abroad but practicing in the United States entails and they offer key insight into how they approached their studies and the process of earning a medical degree.

In this episode Sophia Minnillo interviews Filipino-American graduate students Peter Torres and Matthew Santos. They discuss how their identity shapes their experiences in graduate school at UC Davis. As linguists, Sophia and Peter dig into the details on the intersections of language and cultural identity. As a law student, Matthew focuses on how his identity affected his trajectory into the field. They also talk about their favorite Filipino foods, so make sure to grab a snack before you take a listen.

This is the inaugural episode for our UC Davis student organization Aggies Near & Far. David Soltero and Marina Mautner talk about how study abroad experiences affect how we see the world, focusing on students who have different relationships with Mexico. First, we talk with David who has visited his family in Mexico and participated in the Americans in Paris study abroad program through the University of California Education Abroad Program. Then, Marina discusses her experience studying abroad in Mexico. For our Global Perspectives segment, Marina interviews Dafne Uscunga, a Masters student from Mexico who has study abroad experiences in other countries. We wrap up the episode with our Guess that Sound segment.