Author of 'The Latino Threat' Gives Honors Day Address
A renowned anthropologist and author of The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens and the Nation will share his insights on international migration during the keynote address for Alma College’s 16th annual Honors Day.
Leo Chavez will discuss “Why Is Immigration Reform So Difficult?” at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, in the Remick Heritage Center, Presbyterian Hall. Admission is free and open to the public; no ticket is required.
Honors Day activities continue Thursday, April 5. More than 100 Alma College students will share their original research, creativity and talent with an audience of their peers in morning and afternoon sessions at various locations around campus. The Student Barlow and Ronald O. Kapp Honors prize winners will be announced at 4:30 p.m. in the Remick Heritage Center lobby.
Leo Chavez
Chavez, professor of anthropology at the University of California-Irvine, is the author of numerous books on issues related to immigrant families, labor market participation, motivations for migration, and the use of medical services.
“It is extremely important for students, especially in an election year, to think about immigration in ways that are not typically portrayed in the media,” says Stephany Slaughter, assistant professor of Spanish. “I expect that Chavez will question some of our assumptions about immigration. Too often, the discussion about immigration reform is reduced to statistics and numbers, and the human element is left out. He also may question our perceptions about Latinos: Why do we think the way we do about Latinos?”
His books include Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society, which provides an ethnographic account of undocumented Mexican and Central American immigrants in San Diego County, California.
Covering Immigration: Popular Images and the Politics of the Nation examines media representations of immigrants through the lens of magazine covers and articles.
His newest book, The Latino Threat (2008), examines issues of anti-Latino discourse, struggles over the meaning of citizenship, and the role of media in shaping how Latinos are constructed as a threat in relation to the politics of reproduction, organ transplants, the Minuteman Project, and immigrant marches and protests.
Chavez has received numerous awards for his research contributions, including the 2009 Prize for Distinguished Achievement, awarded by the Society for the Anthropology of North America, a section of the American Anthropological Association.
-mjs-
Posted: Wed, March 28th, 2012 at 10:38AM
