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No other Mexican state has had a longer and more intimate experience crossing North than Jalisco … with effects both positive and negative. In “Across the Border and Back Again: the History of Emigration and Return Migration in Jalisco, Mexico,” one of the finest young historians of Mexican labor in the US, Michael Snodgrass of IUPUI, discusses lessons we can draw today.

When: Friday, September 14 4:30-5:30 PM
Where: IUPUI Cavanaugh Hall 508, 425 University Boulevard, Indianapolis

Part of the Indiana Universtiy School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI 2007-2008 Sabbatical Speaker Series, this talk is free and open to the public.

Think of stereotypical (or to put it more generously, “iconic”) aspects of Mexican culture — mariachi bands, tequila, charros (Mexican cowboys) — and whether you know it or not you are thinking of Jalisco. To a degree, the same is true when you think of migration between Mexico and the US. Throughout the past century, much of the immigration from Mexico to the US has come from Jalisco and a couple of other states. Jalisco is an excellent topic for a historian to examine, a good place to raise questions of whether mass migration is good or bad for the sending region. And we have an excellent guide. Prof. Michael Snodgrass is author of the highly-regarded study, Deference and Defiance in Monterrey: Workers, Paternalism, and Revolution in Mexico, 1890-1950. He also often comments on current issues of immigration and “the new nativism” of hostility to newcomers. A historical perspective might help Prof. Snodgrass answer a question he posed last year regarding a half-baked study of economic relations between Mexico and Indiana: “what needs to be explained is how 20 years of free-market reforms have displaced farmers and factory jobs and produced mounting inequality across Mexico.” A long term view of Jalisco shoiuld help us move toward an answer.

If this event sounds interesting, you should check out … The book party for the International Center’s New Faces at the Crossroads: The World in Central Indiana October 3. Spirit & Place has several events related to Mexican immigration, including the film by Latino High School students, Loz Invenzivlez: Our Invincible Youth, premiering November 3. Sagamore Institute releases a study of immigrants and education in Indiana October 12. The great writer Carlos Fuentes addresses “Immigration: Challenges on Both Sides of the Border” on October 15. And for perspective, compare discussions of German immigration to Indiana September 22 and October 3.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 26th, 2007 at 10:03 pm and is filed under Events, Mexico, Crossing borders, Hoosier history, Latinos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.