The UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics

The Institute is a community of researchers dedicated to analyzing complex problems at the interface of biology and society and training the next generation of crossdisciplinary thinkers. The Labyrinth Project is a collaborative inquiry into nature th Project is a collaborative inquiry into nature in Los Angeles. Wetlands, lawns, rats, cats, coyotes, mountain lions interact with human affect, state power, indigenous politics, aesthetic pleasure, local governmental power and much more. Also, Satan. Using a mix of participant-observation, structured interviewing, collaborative urban anthropology, historical and archival digging, ecological observation, and analysis of social media content, we explore the diverse and surprising ways in which Los Angeles is full of different natures— a veritable trophic cascade of the absurd and surprising. We write research papers and we have produced a podcast project in collaboration with the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies at UCLA. Lab members include ISG faculty Christopher Kelty and Jessica Lynch along with graduate students from anthropology, environmental science, and public health and a team of undergraduates majoring in Human Biology and Society at UCLA. Bharat Venkat and his students in Heat Lab collaborate with UCLA faculty Kelly Turner and Mark Vestal to conduct a case study of Watts, Los Angeles — a historically Black neighborhood where temperatures are 4.7°F hotter than the city average — to pinpoint what discriminatory interventions contributed to the the present-day heat burden. Student researchers are conducting an oral history to document thermal narratives and idioms of heat, encouraging participants to speak about their everyday experiences of heat. ...view more