This speaker series, organized by Latinx History Faculty Working Group lead Irvin Ibarguen, features Jessica Ordaz, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder; Geraldo Cadava, Professor of History and Latina and Latino Studies at Northwestern University; and Matthew J. Garcia, Professor of History and Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College.

Speakers

Tuesday, April 20th, 4:00 - 5:30pm EST - Jessica Ordaz joins us to deliver a book talk on her newly published project The Shadow of El Centro: A History of Migrant incarceration and Solidarity.

Bounded by desert and mountains, El Centro, California, is isolated and difficult to reach. However, its location close to the border between San Diego and Yuma, Arizona, has made it an important place for Mexican migrants attracted to the valley’s agro-industrial economy. After WWII, it also became home to the El Centro Immigration Detention Camp. The book follows how the camp evolved, eventually into the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service Processing Center of the 2000s. In effect, it shows how El Centro became a national template for the detainment of migrants—a place where the policing of migration, the racialization of labor, and detainee resistance coalesced.

Wednesday, April 28th, 3:30 - 5:00pm EST - Geraldo Cadava, Professor of History and Latina and Latino Studies at Northwestern University, will join interested readers to discuss his book, The Hispanic Republican: The Shaping of an American Political Identity, from Nixon to Trump. Irvin Ibarguen, Assistant Professor of History at NYU, will moderate the conversation.

Monday, May 10th, 4:00 - 5:30pm EST - Matthew J. Garcia, Professor of History and Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College, will join interested readers to discuss his book, From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement. Irvin Ibarguen, Assistant Professor of History at NYU, will moderate the conversation.