Book Talk: Stevie Ruiz — Stewards of the Land: Race and Reclaiming Environmental Labor in the American West
Monday, May 14, 2026
3:00 p.m.
CHASS INTS 1113
Free and open to the public
Light refreshments will be served
Please join us for a book talk by Stevie Ruiz on his new book, Stewards of the Land: Race and Reclaiming Environmental Labor in the American West, followed by a discussion between the author and Catherine Gudis (History, UCR).
The history of the environmental movement—from environmentalism of the nineteenth century to the environmental justice struggles of the late twentieth century—has often been portrayed as a series of efforts led by white environmentalists. In Stewards of the Land, Stevie Ruiz reassesses the movement and reveals that it has always been a multiracial endeavor. From Southern California berry fields to Japanese American concentration camps, from Chinese cooks in national parks to Chicano Civilian Conservation Corps workers, Ruiz traces how the racialized labor and environmental knowledge of Asian migrants and Chicana/o communities built the material foundations of modern environmentalism.
Stewards of the Land argues that environmental justice was never just a reaction to pollution in the 1970s but has a much longer history tied to land theft, labor exploitation, and the everyday struggles of frontline communities to live and work with dignity. Drawing from comparative ethnic studies and archival research and with a commitment to decolonial praxis, Ruiz recovers the stories of those who labored—often invisibly—to build, maintain, and reimagine environmental spaces in the American West.
Sponsored by: Department of Ethnic Studies; Department of History; Department of Society, Environment, and Health Equity; Latino and Latin American Studies Research Center & Ronald H. Chilcote Chair; Inland Empire Labor and Community Center (IELCC)
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Stevie Ruiz is an associate professor in Chicana/o Studies at California State University, Northridge. He is a writer and teacher of environmental justice studies and critical science studies. His most recent book, Stewards of the Land: Race and Reclaiming Environmental Labor in the American West will be published on April 21, 2026 by the University of North Carolina Press. His research and teaching focuses on communities who seek to dismantle oppressive structures shielded by liberalism in the US and globally. |
