La Caminata

If you haven't seen the film La Caminata, I highly recommend it. It is only 15 minutes long and you can stream the entire thing from snagfilms.com.

Below is a film description:

"Seven hours south of the US/Mexican Border lies the small town of Alberto, where the local community, like many pueblos across Mexico, has lost 80 percent of its population to migration into the United States. But Alberto has a plan to revive their community, the creation of a theme-park event - a simulated border crossing, complete with balaclava-clad “coyotes” as guides and “border patrol” that chase “migrants” up and down rough terrain through the night. They call this event the Caminata (translation: journey, hike, trek). The organizers designed the experience as a tool for compassion and consciousness-raising, showing the largely middle-class Mexican tourists who attend the difficulty and dangers faced by those crossing the border. Through an exploration of this unique journey, La Caminata adds a fresh perspective to the ongoing debate on immigration: that of Mexicans actively fighting poverty, joblessness, and desolation in their home communities."

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/la_caminata/

Mixed Migration Conference--call for papers

The Concept of Mixed Migration: Reflecting on Today’s Migratory Policies, Movements and Paradigms Shifts
Geneva, 8-9 April 2010

A conference jointly organized by the Programme for the Study of Global Migration (Graduate Institute, Geneva) and the Institut d'Ethnologie (Université de Neuchâtel), with the support of the Division for International Protection Services of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

More information:
http://graduateinstitute.ch/globalmigration/NewsEvents/MixedMigration.html

Conference on Chicana/o literature: May 2010 Leon, Spain

http://www.institutofranklin.net/en/conferences/next-conferences/vii-congreso-internacional-de-literatura-chicana

'Sleep Dealer:' exploring border connectedness

Sleep Dealer, a film by Alex Rivera, has won accolades at the Sundance Film Festival. It provides a speculative look at the US-Mexico relationship in the distant future: human-powered automatons filling the U.S. need for bodies to build the American Dream. (With no sleep, there is no dream.) Now available via Netflix. Check out this clip. 

Gomez Pena's Pocha Nostra

The significance of the border as a physical, conceptual, spiritual terrain is most evoked by the work of artist Guillermo Gomez Pena and La Pocha Nostra performance troupe. (www.pochanostra.com)

A bite: 'La Pocha Nostra is by nature anti-essentialist and anti-nationalist. We claim an extremely unpopular position in post-9/11 U.S. "No homeland; no fear; no borders; no patriotism; no nation-state; no ideology; no censorship"....Our America is still an open society with porous borders; our America is neither "Red" nor "Blue;" it is brown, black, yellow, pink and transparent. Always.'

Underground Undergrads: Immigrant Students & the DREAM Act

Underground Undergrads: Immigrant Students & the DREAM Act
Monday, October 5, 2009, 3:30 pm, University of Washington, Communications 226

There are hundreds of thousands of students throughout the country who, through no fault of their own, have been relegated to a life in the underground economy. These students are the children of undocumented immigrants. Although they were protected until their 18th birthday – receiving an education, making friends, and in some cases living in the only land they ever knew – now are considered undocumented immigrants themselves. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (the DREAM Act) was introduced in the U.S. Congress March 26, 2009. If enacted, the new immigration bill will provide millions of immigrant children who arrived in the United States before the age of 16, have been residing in the United States continuously for at least five years prior to the bill being enacted into law, and who graduate from U.S. high schools the opportunity to earn permanent U.S. residency.

Come to learn about this important civil and human rights campaign that is being led by students throughout the country and how you can get involved.

Kent Wong, Director of the Center for Labor Research and Education at UCLA

Matias Ramos, UCLA student leader

This event is co-sponsored by the UCLA Labor Center, the Race/Knowledge Project with support from the Simpson Center for the Humanities, the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, and the School of Social Work.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information call Roberto Gonzales, 206 685-2872 / rggonzal@u.washington.edu

ACLU report released today

http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/immigrants/humanitariancrisisreport.pdf

Humanitarian crisis and migrant deaths at the border..

Consuelo

Indigenous Mobility Conference

PATTERNS OF INDIGENOUS MOBILITY: GUATEMALA > MEXICO > U.S.

Friday, October 16, 2009
3:30PM – 5:30PM
Douglas Forum – Bank of America Executive Education Center University of Washington, Seattle Campus

A conference on indigenous migration from Guatemala and Mexico to the U.S. presented by the Department of American Ethnic Studies in collaboration with the UW Office of Global Affairs to mark the establishment of the UNAM’s Office for the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada.


“The Multicultural and Multiethnic Character of Mexican Migration to the U.S.” Dr. Cristina Oehmichen Bazán, Institute for Anthropological Research, UNAM

“Migration and Human Rights,” Dr. Emilio Rolando Ordóñez Cifuentes, Insitute for Juridical Studies, UNAM

"Zapotec and Mixtec Migration to the Pacific Northwest," Dr. Lynn Stephen, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies,University of Oregon

Moderator: Dr. Erasmo Gamboa, American Ethnic Studies, U.W.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information call AES, 206 543-4343 / aes@u.washington.edu

To request disability accommodation contact the Disability Services Office at least ten days in advance at: 206-543-6450/V, 206-543-6452/TTY, 206-685-7264 (FAX), or email at dso@u.washington.edu.

Upcoming Lectures/BCC

October 15, 2009 @ 1:00: 2009 Mexican - U.S. Migration Challenges Come learn about the current socio-political climate for upcoming Immigration policies affecting both countries in an interactive and discussion-oriented lecture.
Lecture will include a discussion of the current climate in U.S. - Mexico border towns.

November 2, 2009 @ 1:00: Dia de los Muertos: A Celebration Participate in a traditional Mexican celebration honoring the dead. Hear about the meaning of this important day for Mexican cultural identity.

November 19, 2009 @ 1:00: The Mexican Revolution: 100 Years Later Gain a broader understanding of the history and politics of The Mexican Revolution and what it means for Mexican cultural and political identity today.

For more information contact Gaby Estrada at: g.estrada-centelles@bellevuecollege.edu

All lectures at Bellevue Community College