The Program for Learning and Community Engagement at Texas A&M University-Texarkana will welcome anthropologist, author and professor Dr. Leo Chavez to campus Thursday, Nov. 17, for a presentation titled “The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens and the Nation” at 7 p.m. in Eagle Hall of the University Center, 7101 University Ave., Texarkana, Texas.
“My talk will look at how some of the current negative rhetoric about immigrants, especially from Mexico is not new,” said Dr. Chavez. “I look at what I call the Latino Threat narrative that emerges over the past 50 years. Then I talk about how this rhetoric has implications for the children of immigrants, both those immigrants themselves and those U.S. citizens by birth.”
Prior to the presentation, there will be a coffee and reception from 4-5 p.m. in the John F. Moss Library on the third floor of the University Center.
Both events are free and open to the public.
A professor of anthropology at the University of California, Irvine, Dr. Chavez received a PhD from Stanford University in 1982. His research examines various issues related to transnational migration, including immigrant families and households, labor market participation, motivations for migration, the use of medical services, and media constructions of “immigrant” and “nation.”
His books include “Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society” (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1992, 1997 2nd edition), which provides an ethnographic account of Mexican and Central American undocumented immigrants in San Diego County, California.
“Covering Immigration: Popular Images and the Politics of the Nation” (University of California Press 2001) examines representations of immigrants in the media and popular discourse in the United States through the lens of magazine covers and their related articles.
His newest book is “The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens and the Nation” (Stanford University Press 2008), which examines issues of anti-Latino discourse, struggles over the meaning of citizenship, and role of media spectacles in society in relation to the politics of reproduction, organ transplants, the Minuteman Project, and immigrant marches and protests. The second edition was released in 2013.
PLACE is a faculty-led program designed to create a community of learners comprising A&M-Texarkana students, faculty, staff and the community at large. PLACE chooses an annual theme around which to organize a lecture series and other activities that provide focal points for learning and discussion. This year’s theme is “Race and Ethnicity.”
