C. Michelle Kleisath (BA UC Davis 2003)

Research Interests: Gender, Feminist theory; China and Tibet; Women's grassroots development, inequalities in international development; the construction and comparison of Han and Caucasian dominant racial identities.

"I am an entering graduate student with an interest in expanding on the work that I have conducted over the past four years in China/Tibet. From 2003-2007, I lived and worked in Qinghai Province, China in the Amdo region of Tibet, where I taught Sociology courses in the English Training Program for Tibetans at Qinghai Shi Fan Da Xue. In Qinghai, I helped co-found Shem Women's Group, the first Non Governmental Organization in China run by and for Tibetan women. Shem focuses on increasing the well-being of people in impoverished communities by providing access to basic needs such as water, fuel, electricity, health care, and basic education. The organization fulfills its mission by training educated Tibetan women to design, implement, and manage sustainable grassroots development projects that will successfully alleviate the problems that their communities face. Recently, I founded Shem Women's Group USA a California based 501(c)(3) charity whose mission is to empower and support Tibetan women’s leadership within the People’s Republic of China. As an anthropologist, I hope to combine earlier training in Latin American studies and Spanish with field experience in China so as to pursue comparative research on women’s small-scale development. I am also keen to deepen my understanding of the structures that influence development, with special attention to Han Chinese and Caucasian dominant racial identities. "

Links
www.theothertibet.com
www.shemgroup.org
www.shemgroup.us
www.lulu.com/content/1004382