Oakland, CA - Mills College students are collaborating with the California Coalition of Women Prisoners (CCWP) and the Islamic Society of San Francisco (ISSF) to improve health care in California women’s prisons and to assess discrimination against Muslims in local high schools. The two projects are part of a Public Interest Ethnography course offered this semester by Mills’ Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

According to professor Rachael Stryker, “This course offers Mills students the opportunity to work side by side with local non-profit community organizations as intellectual partners and citizens. Students are conducting ethnographic interviews with marginalized members of these two local communities to help solve community-defined problems.

She continues, “The organizations are receiving passionate, pro bono support from the students, while the students are learning to use ethnographic process as a tool to promote social justice, equality, and reform.” 

“Prisoners often feel that people do not care about them,” said Yvonne Cooks, director of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. “Prisoners are separated from the general population, and their voices are easily lost. The women inside are empowered because Mills students visit, listen to them, and pass their stories on. We’ll use this work to help publicize the plight of poor healthcare not just for incarcerated women, but hopefully to create healthcare protocols for all incarcerated people in California.”

According to Souleiman Ghali, president of the Islamic Society of San Francisco, “Discrimination against those of the Muslim faith in the U.S. has been rampant since 9/11. Muslim students are experiencing discrimination, but we don’t know how often, and in what forms. The Mills project will help us figure out how to help these students deal with discrimination.” 

Mills senior Ali Uscilka said, “I like the projects because in addition to being activist- and community-oriented, they are also academically challenging. I am learning a lot about the history of public interest work, as well as valuable real-life skills that I will use after I graduate.”

Students are currently interviewing members of the two communities. At the end of the semester, the students will present their findings to prison reformists and Bay Area Islamic community members. Some students will also work within the communities to determine the best use of their ethnographies in future issue campaigns.

Mills’ Public Interest Ethnography course is one of the nation’s only collaborative ethnography classes.

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently ranked among the top 75 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills is also recognized as one of the country’s 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges. The Princeton Review selected Mills as one of 11 colleges for first-time inclusion in its Best 361 Colleges in 2005. Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.

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