Marcelle Maese, a Chicana literature professor with roots in El Paso and Los Angeles, has lived in San Diego for nine years. In this oral history, she details how literature and teaching intersect with political activism, and how she came to join Detention Resistance–an abolitionist, non-hierarchical collective organization dedicated to accompanying migrants imprisoned in the Otay Mesa Detention Facility. She discusses how Detention Resistance has changed over the years, and how its founding ideals–including abolitionism and opposition to hierarchies–impact its day-to-day work. Key topics in this interview include abolitionism, teaching and its relationship to activism, and how non-hierarchical organizations work in practice. This interview was conducted online via Zoom. The interview was conducted by Alex Reinsch-Goldstein, a first year history major at UCSD who is interested in issues of migrant rights and decarceration.
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