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Professor | Interdisciplinary Studies, Labor Studies Affiliate
Ph.D.: Political Science, UC Irvine
Vivian served as coordinator of Labor Studies for many years and, inspired by students, founded the Labor, Social and Environmental Justice Fair. Her films and publications focus on gender and labor in construction and agriculture and now on climate change. She became an internationally known scholar after receiving a Fulbright Core Scholar award to teach and do research in Liverpool in 2018, a Fulbright Specialist award to do research in Norway and has lectured in many European countries.
Vivian grew up in on the East Coast to parents who fled Vienna, Austria narrowly escaping Hitler’s fascist campaigns. Being from an immigrant refugee family made her aware of how ignorance and economic strife feeds authoritarianism, and growing up in the shadow of the Vietnam war spurred her to support and participate in many social movements for change. Having worked in restaurants, offices, factories, refineries, construction sites and then returning as a non-traditional student to earn her doctorate deepened her understanding of working class struggles which inform her teaching and interactions with students at CSUDH.
Research, Publications and Creative Projects
Three feature films, Hammering It Out, Transnational Tradeswomen, and Harvest of Loneliness are part of Vivian’s legacy. Recent projects include Build It Green which looks at how construction training in Europe, the US and Canada incorporates climate literacy. Just Transition in the Defense Industry studies how workers in military industries in the US and the UK view the need to decarbonize and convert their workplaces towards more civilian purposes, Work, Labour, and Greening the Economy is a Norwegian based project on how oil workers/unions in Norway, Nigeria, and North America view the phasing out of oil. One of the outcomes of this collaboration is Talking Union, Talking Climate, a short film that’s been screening in many universities in Europe.
Why This Subject Matters:
“The climate crisis triggers fear and hope in workers and communities across the world, especially in the face of systems that value profit over health, well-being and labor standards. We need to see how unions and environmental justice communities have a strong voice and recognition in proposing and implementing fair and democratic solutions.”