Meet Our Scholars
Des Jackson
University of California, Berkeley
Comparative Literature
He/Him, They/Them
BIPOC
Born and raised in the Central Valley of California, des is a 5th-year student at the University of California, Berkeley studying comparative literature. des is currently a fellow with the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF), where they're honing their skills as a qualitative researcher in the humanities in order to address social neglect and systemic inequality in California's Central Valley. They hope to pursue graduate education in geography or history to continue their work on the history of rural space and place, radicalizing what we think of the places that feed us and the communities that reside there. Aside from their academic and mentorship work, des has been a published poet and performer for nine years. des has also been a tutor, mentor, and program director for various organizations since coming into college, including the YWCA of Berkeley/Oakland, Central Valley Scholars, Elevate Tutoring, and StepUp Tutoring.