Home – Shelly Grabe, Ph.D

I currently have the privilege of serving as the Provost of Rachel Carson College with the aim of promoting curriculum and programming that can diversify how we train the next generation of students on topics related to sustainability.

My own research focuses on the structural and individual components of women’s rights violations and social justice in the context of globalization. In partnership with grassroots women’s organizations in Nicaragua, Perú, and and Tanzania, my work intends to center the activism and voices of marginalized women who have limited structural power in society. I have used a multimethod approach from within psychology to provide the currently missing, but necessary links between transnational feminism, the discourse on women’s human rights and globalization, and the international attention given to women’s “empowerment” to help inform strategies and interventions that can contribute to social change for women. I use frameworks informed by feminist liberation psychology, human rights discourse, decolonial feminism, and social justice to organize my research, teaching, and outreach. In Nicaragua and Perú I worked with activists to examine the role of the grass-roots social movement in promoting justice for women. And in Nicaragua and Tanzania I examined links between women's land ownership, civic participation, and violence against women.

I am currently working on a book project with national feminist leaders in Perú to examine the role of feminist activism in gender progressive legislation.

I have also partnered with local groups in California to support outreach surrounding sexuality and violence against girls and women.

My work focuses on collaborations with grassroots organizations in Nicaragua, Perú, and Tanzania. In Nicaragua, I worked with several members and organizations within the Women’s Autonomous Movement (Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres), namely with the Xochilt-Acalt Women’s Center. In Tanzania I worked with the Maasai Women’s Development Organization, a grassroots organization that works toward women’s empowerment by addressing women’s social, cultural, political, and economic human rights. In Perú, I work with the Flora Tristán Women’s Center.

In California I have worked closely with students and members of the Santa Cruz community as a field studies advisor, scholar, and member of the community. I have supervised a variety of field placements for undergraduate students interested in positive social change for women. For example, I partnered with the Santa Cruz County Women’s Commission to create an intern position for a student to assist in writing a report to comply with the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Santa Cruz County. In another community project, together with a graduate student, I partnered with the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center to evaluate a local sex ed curriculum targeted at marginalized youth and aimed at improving healthy communication surrounding the body. I have also supervised undergraduate students interning at the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center.

Shelly Grabe, Ph.D

Professor Shelly Grabe

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