The Race, Indigeneity, Gender & Sexuality Studies Initiative (RIGS) was established in 2015 to support innovative research, teaching, community-building, and engagement for scholars and students addressing issues on these topics. RIGS is dedicated to bringing faculty and students together to pursue lines of inquiry that challenge systems of power and inequality, assert human dignity, and imagine social transformation.

“The U.S-Mexican border es una herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds.” – Gloria Anzaldúa

In this quick video, Jigna Desai describes her award-winning book Asian Americans in Dixie.

On February 19th, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which would ultimately lead to the forced removal and mass incarceration of nearly 12,000 Japanese Americans. In light of recent events, Prof. Yuichiro Onishi writes, it is important to remember events such this one and the valuable lessons they have taught us.