What Side Are You On? A Tohono O'odham Life Across Borders is a kind of political biography of Mike Wilson, a Tohono O'odham citizen who worked for the special forces in Central America then had a political awakening that led him to begin establishing water stations for migrants crossing into the US through O'odham land. It's a fascinating story whose telling is made possible through a collaboration between Lucero, a Chicanx political scientist, and Wilson. It offers a rich example of Chicanx-Native intellectual collaboration.
Join us for a book talk with Mike Wilson and José Antonio Lucero, moderated by Professor Simón Trujillo on Wednesday, April 23 at 20 Cooper Square, New York University.
RSVP required for this event
This event is co-sponsored by Center CIRCL.
Panelists
José Antonio Lucero is Chair and Professor of the Comparative History of Ideas Department at the University of Washington, Seattle and holds a joint appointment in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. He lives on Coast Salish lands with his spouse (and UW professor) María Elena García, his son Toño, and four very needy cats.
Michael Steven Wilson (Tohono O’odham) is a human rights activist, US military retiree, and film documentarian. In May 2024, Mike received an Honorary Doctorate in Divinity from the San Francisco Theological Seminary, now part of the University of Redlands. He lives with his wife, Susan Ruff, in Tucson, Arizona.
Simón Trujillo (Moderator) is an Assistant Professor of Latinx Studies in the English Department at New York University.
His book, Land Uprising: Native Story Power and the Insurgent Horizons of Latinx Indigeneity (University of Arizona Press, 2020), explores Indigenous land reclamation to rethink connections between Native storytelling practices and Latinx racialization across overlapping colonial and nation-state forms.