Dr. Robert Chlala, Assistant Professor

Email: robert.chlala@csulb.edu
Office: PSY-131
Phone: (562) 985-4760

Main Courses:

  • Racism, Power, Inequality (Soc. 436)
  • Sociology of Gender (Soc. 325)
  • Urban and Social Policy Analysis (Soc. 353)
  • Sociology of Human Rights and Social Justice (Soc.449)
  • Poverty and Public Policy (Soc. 460)
  • Urban Sociology (In Development)

Research & Teaching Interests:

  • Urban Sociology and Policy; Labor; Cooperatives & Solidarity Economics; Critical Cannabis & Drug Studies; Feminist & Black Radical Geography; Race, Gender and Sexuality; Political Economy & Movements. Community Engaged Methods.

Education:

  • B.A. Political Economy of Industrialized Societies, UC Berkeley
  • M.A., Ph.D. Sociology, University of Southern California

Selected Publications:

Chlala, R. (2020). Misfit medicine and queer geographies: The diverse economy and politics of cannabis in carceral Los Angeles. Environment​​ and Planning C: Politics and Space, 38(7-8), 1180-1197.

Pastor, M., Chlala, R., & Sanchez-Lopez, A. (2021). Organizing Community, Building Power.  in Hondagneu-Sotelo, P., & Pastor, M. (2021). South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Building Community in South LA (Vol. 13). NYU Press.

In Review: Chlala, Robert. “Cannabis Care and Experimental Ecologies: Producing Fugitive Value in Punitive Los Angeles.” Special Issue Submission: Fugitivity as Method. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies. 

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships:

  • Co-PI, “Study of Employment Conditions and Equity in California’s Cannabis Industry.” Department of Cannabis Control Grant. $1.04 million Awarded. 2021-2023.
  • American Association of Geographers (AAG) Urban Geography Specialty Group. Best Dissertation Award. (February 2022) 
  • AAG Socialist & Critical Geography Specialty Group. Graduate Paper Prize. (April 2021). 
  • AAG Sexuality & Space Graduate Paper Prize (April 2019)
  • Center for Engaged Scholarship, Dissertation Fellowship, Honorable Mention (May 2019).
  • USC Joint Educational Program – Dick Cone Award for Graduate Engaged Scholarship (May 2018)
  • Archie Green Fund for Labor Culture and History, Jack Henning Graduate Fellowship (Fall 2015).