Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Riddell, Adaljiza Sosa
- Abstract:
- The papers contain correspondence, subject files, curriculum materials, and research materials.
- Extent:
- 24.9 linear feet
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Adaljiza Sosa Riddell Papers, D-397, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Correspondence, subject files, curriculum materials, and research materials
- Biographical / historical:
-
Adaljiza Sosa Riddell was a senior lecturer in the Chicana/o Studies program at the University of California, Davis and a founder of the National Association for Chicano Studies. She was born in Colton, CA on December 12, 1937. She attended the University of California, Berkeley and received a B.A. in 1960 and her master's degree in political science in 1962. During her time at Berkeley, she met and married her husband, William Riddell. Sosa Riddell worked as an elementary school teacher after graduating while caring for her elderly parents. She then returned to school and became the first Chicana to receive her Ph.D. in the United States from UC Riverside in 1971.
Dr. Sosa Riddell started teaching at UC Davis in 1971 and became Director of the Chicano Studies program in 1973. She was a senior lecturer in the Chicana/o Studies program and a keynote speaker at multiple symposiums. These include the Winter Quarter Chicano Symposium in 1980 where she spoke on the "Political Economy of Chicano Communities in California" and in 1983 as part of the "Spotlight on UCD Women Scholars" series where she presented "Why Faculty Women Need Wives." She helped run the La Raza Cultural Days and lectured on "U.S.-Mexico Border Relations – An Overview" in 1991.
She used her position to advocate for Chicanas/os in California and served as a leader for the community. She supported bilingual ballot measures against Senator Jim Nielsen's anti-bilingual education campaign in 1998. Sosa Riddell was a founder of the Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social in 1985 and served as chair from 1985 to 1988. Dr. Sosa Riddell helped to found the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies and then became the first woman to receive the Scholar of the Year Award from the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies in 1989. She published multiple articles in The Bilingual Review, some of which were titled "Political Economy of Chicano Communities" (1989), "Introduction to Chicano Studies" (1989), and "Chicano Studies in a Pluralistic Society: Contributing to Multiculturalism" (1992). In addition to these, she also published "Chicanas as Political Actors: Rare Literature, Complex Practice" in National Political Science (1993). In 2006, she wrote a chapter in Speaking from the Body: Latinas on Health and Culture in which she discusses how Parkinson's disease has impacted her and her family's life. The American Political Science Association developed the Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell Mentor Award beginning in 2011 in which the APSA committee awards a non-monetary certificate for outstanding mentoring of Latino/a students.
Dr. Adaljiza Sosa Riddell retired from teaching in 2004 but continued to mentor students and remained involved with MALCS and NACCS. Her husband, William Riddell, and daughter, Citlali Lucia Sosa-Riddell, are both active in continuing Sosa Riddell's advocacy work.
- Processing information:
-
Liz Phillips encoded this finding aid with help from student assistant Aditi Sinha. The biography was written by Sacramento State Public History graduate student Aleksaandra Courtney.
- Physical location:
- Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Adaljiza Sosa Riddell Papers, D-397, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Davis, Special Collections, UC Davis Library100 NW QuadDavis, CA 95616-5292, US
- Contact:
- (530) 752-1621