UCLA IRLE staff picks– fall 2024: Read, watch, listen
Books, podcasts and more on labor issues and history
UCLA IRLE | November 1, 2024
Between election season, daylight savings time and holiday duties encroaching, this time of year can present many stressors. But if you’re struggling to stay in-the-know on labor issues or if you need an engaging read to help you escape your troubles, UCLA’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) has got you covered.
Staff and faculty at the IRLE have compiled a list of recommendations for books, podcasts and other media related to labor issues or history for your reading, listening and viewing pleasure.
LISTEN: “Reinventing Solidarity,” New Labor Forum and CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
Toby Higbie, IRLE Director:
“This engaging interview show focuses on contemporary labor topics, new books and articles, and debates in organizing.”
READ: “Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change,” Angela Garbes, 2022
Citlalli Chávez-Nava, IRLE Director of Strategic Communications
“Published in the wake of the pandemic, which revealed the essential nature of care work, Garbes traces the history of care work in the United States and examines how we rely on, yet undervalue, the labor of caregivers who make other work—and our lives—possible. The book also looks at mothering through a radical lens, highlighting its pleasures, and makes the case for bringing care work into the public sphere.”
READ: “The Last Story of Mina Lee,” Nancy Jooyoun Kim, 2020
Saba Waheed, UCLA Labor Center Director:
“I’m a big fan of fiction, and it was hard to choose one. The Last Story of Mina Lee’ takes us through LA’s Koreatown, weaving between past and present to unravel a mystery. This debut novel explores family bonds, the immigrant and labor experience, and the struggles of those building a new life in America. Discover Koreatown through this familial story.”
WATCH : “Halmoni,” Dir. Anna Oh (2016)
Ju Hong, UCLA Dream Resource Center (DRC) Director:
“My personal favorite film,” HALMONI (“Grandmother”) follows a 24-year-old undocumented immigrant rights activist as he struggles to understand his own identity and the deep sense of responsibility he feels toward his family after he receives special permission from the U.S. government to visit his ailing grandmother in South Korea.
LISTEN : “Re:Work– 60th Anniversary Mixtape,“ UCLA Labor Center
Veena Hampapur, UCLA Labor Center New Media Strategist
“It’s the 60th anniversary of the UCLA Labor Center, and we’ve made a mixtape for you — our friends, partners, and supporters! We’ve curated a collection of Re:Work episodes that reflects who we are and what we’re about at the Labor Center. The mixtape is available on Spotify, YouTube, and Soundcloud. Join the celebration by putting on your earbuds and doing some deep listening with us!”
READ : “Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone,” Sarah Jaffe, 2021
Emily Jo Wharry, UCLA Labor Center Director of Communications
“Came for the catchy title, stayed for the labor history. I think a lot of folks who work in nonprofits, public service, or social justice organizations—myself included—can relate to the “labor of love” myth that author Sarah Jaffe aims to debunk.”
WATCH : APALA and UCLA Labor Center Racial Justice Workshops, 2022
Lisa Lei, UCLA Labor Center Asian American Racial Justice Coordinator
In July and August 2022, the UCLA Labor Center and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) hosted five virtual workshops to educate and mobilize community members and leaders around topics including building multi-ethnic unity for racial justice, promoting API labor and community alliances, defending reproductive justice and increasing API civic participation.
LISTEN : “Working People Podcast“
Trevor Griffey, UCLA Labor Studies Lecturer
“Max Alvarez is the Studs Terkel of our time. His podcast uses oral history with working class people to explore daily life, social inequality, and politics from the bottom up.”
READ : “Journal of a Black Queer Nurse,” Britney Daniels, 2023
Loretta Gaffney, UCLA Labor Studies Lecturer
“For readers interested in funny and engaging memoirs, and anyone who wonders what it’s like to work in an ER as a nurse. Daniels not only gives us a window onto nursing, but shows us how racism, sexism, and homophobia (from both patients and doctors) affects her work.”
READ : “Phenomenal World“
Kit Smemo, UCLA Labor Studies Lecturer
“Phenomenal World is an online magazine that publishes excellent in-depth articles as well as handy summaries of current research on US and global capitalism. It’s edited by a former UTLA researcher who just wrote a great piece on Bidenomics.”
