Cattelino and Lee Receive Grant from UCLA’s Sustainable LA Grand Challenge

Jessica Cattelino (PI), CSW Associate Director, and Rachel Lee (co-PI), CSW Director, have received one of the first set of grants from UCLA’s Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, which was announced on Feb 18th. The selection process for funding the 11 projects was guided in part by the research priorities identified in Sustainable LA’s new Five-Year Work Plan, a futuristic vision of Los Angeles with a detailed proposal for how the challenge will achieve its goals.

The project will investigate the important but understudied role of gender—as it intersects with race and class—in residential water use in Los Angeles. It will investigate the following primary research question: In what ways is household water use gendered in Los Angeles? Secondary questions are: What are the gendered patterns in household water valuation, as diversified by class and race? How do gendered cultural systems interact with water management and ecosystem health? Findings are expected to yield recommendation for reductions in residential water use. Drawing on anthropological theories of the cultural politics of nature and of valuation to theorize gendered water practices, the two-year study will use mixed methods research that incorporates ethnographic fieldwork (interviewing, participant observation) and survey.

More info on UCLA’s Sustainable LA Grand Challenge: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/1-2-million-awarded-to-research-projects-to-help-los-angeles-county-thrive-despite-climate-change