Sprinkle: An Undergraduate Journal of Feminist and Queer Studies

Sprinkle is an undergraduate journal created by and for undergraduate students in feminist and queer studies, as well as the broader Women’s and Gender Studies scholarly community. First created at McGill University in 2007, Sprinkle has been published annually at Cal Poly since 2013 and includes authors from inside and outside the Unites States. Sprinkle is hosted online by the Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy and is supported by a Cal Poly Instructionally Related Activities grant.

Volume 9 of Sprinkle was published in May 2016 by Associate Editors Alex Castro (Animal Science and Theatre Arts double major) and Sam Shrader (English major and History minor). In their editorial, Castro and Shrader wrote, “The authors published this year have demonstrated exemplary work in their various fields of study and we are grateful for their contributions to this year’s volume as Sprinkle continues to function as a platform to exhibit an increasingly expansive body of work.” They continued, “We hope that this volume is not only radical in its content, but in its use as well. By publishing these particular works, we hope that we are fostering a community that is constantly challenging itself to be the most aware, most inclusive, and most forward-thinking that it can be.”

Women’s and Gender Studies minor and Psychology major Emma Sturm completed her first year as Sprinkle managing editor during the 2015-16 academic year. She recently shared, “Sprinkle gave me confidence knowing the skills I learned at Cal Poly were being genuinely appreciated and I was contributing to something that would reach more than just Cal Poly students. As the managing editor in charge of interacting with all the submitting authors it was so gratifying to see how motivated the authors were and to be able to help them refine their pieces into something unique and influential. So often the hard work of students is lost after a paper is turned in, but Sprinkle gives the students an opportunity to share it with a much bigger audience – as well as the opportunity to write on topics that may not be covered or engaged with in classes.”

In Volume 9, Sprinkle Editors-in-Chief Elizabeth Meyer (University of Colorado Boulder) and Jane Lehr (Cal Poly Women’s & Gender Studies Department Chair) wrote, “It is exciting to see Sprinkle continue to grow and evolve and be a space where undergraduate scholars can share their ideas with a broader audience. It is an honor for Cal Poly to manage this journal and create this space for feminist and queer scholarship to flourish.”