KU to host national conference on Hispanic issues / LJWorld.com

Archive for Friday, February 8, 2008

February 8, 2008

The plenary speakers will speak from 9 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. today in the Alderson Auditorium on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd.

Panel discussions will begin at 10:30 a.m. and continue until 6 p.m.

Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis on-site for $80.

Today's registration is from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union. Registration will then move to the sixth floor of the Union at 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. today and will again be open Saturday.

For more information, visit www.continuinged.ku.edu/ programs/latino_studies.

A surging Hispanic population in the United States has put issues such as immigration, labor policy and border patrol at the forefront of national and local discussions.

The Latino population is the fastest-growing ethnic minority in the United States, according to 2000 U.S. Census Bureau data. In Kansas, the Hispanic population has grown nearly 32 percent from 2000 to 2006, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

To explore the implications of the shifting demographics, Kansas University is playing host to a national conference called "Nuestra America in the U.S.?" today and Saturday at the Kansas Union.

Researchers from more than 80 universities are expected to attend along with at least 30 KU graduate students and faculty members. They will present papers and moderate panel discussions.

The conference, which has been in the making for two years, coincides with the launch of a new KU academic minor in U.S. Latino studies.

Assistant English professor Marta Caminero-Santangelo, one of the conference's lead organizers, said the issues are pressing and deserving of thorough discussion.

"These are hot-button issues that are significant to a lot of people as they vote," she said. "No matter what side you fall on, having as much information about the issues as possible : is important."

Tanya Golash-Boza, associate sociology professor at KU, will be discussing immigration policy today during a panel discussion. When House Bill 4437 was introduced three years ago to enforce stricter immigration laws and begin the construction of the U.S./Mexico border fence, she said she started thinking about how immigration policy really affects people's lives in the U.S.

"It's a topic we're going to be dealing with for a while," she said.

The keynote speaker at today's banquet is Helena MarÃ-a Viramontes, creative writing professor at Cornell University and author of several novels. While the banquet dinner is sold out, she will give a reading that is open to the public. The reading will be at 7:30 p.m. today at Maceli's, 1031 N.H.

Nuestra America in the U.S.? Conference at Kansas Union, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd., on the Kansas University campus.

Here are some of Saturday's panel discussions:

9 a.m. to 10:20 a.m.

¢ Telling Stories: Migration, Transnationalism, Latinization, in the Jayhawk Room.

¢ Chicana Identities and Subjectivities, Pine Room.

10:30 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.

¢ No Mas Muertes and the New Sanctuary Movement: Humanitarian Immigrants Rights Groups, Malott Room.

¢ Marti and (Trans)National Identities, Pine Room.

Noon to 1:20 p.m.

Luncheon featuring speaker Suzanne Oboler of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York: "Nuestra American and (The) Other America(s)."

1:30 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.

¢ Immigration Policy: Policies and Their Impacts, Kansas Room.

¢ Incorporation, Mobilization, and Social/Political Capital, Malott Room.

3 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.

¢ Canons, Classrooms, and Latina/o Cultural Production, Pine Room.

¢ Opportunities and Obstacles in Education, Kansas Room.

4:30 p.m. to 5:50 p.m.

¢ Serving the Needs of Latino/a Populations, Pine Room.

¢ Transcultural Production, Kansas Room.

6 p.m.

After-Dinner Closing Reception, Maceli's, 1031 N.H.

Discussion

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8 February 2008
at 10:33 a.m.

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ASBESTOS (Anonymous) says…

This should rea “illegal immigrations supporters meet at KU to develope propaganda talking points” to oppose the “will of the American Citizens.

I see no one on the panel opposing illelgal immigraton.

Can you say “ethno-centric” and “racist” and “Anti American”?
8 February 2008
at 10:43 a.m.

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smitty (Anonymous) says…

But but but but but but the meeting is located in the center of our Hispanic population. Geographic center, that is.
8 February 2008
at 12:38 p.m.

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Hepburn (Anonymous) says…

Now there you go again, Asbestos, running to unsubstantiated conclusions. How do you know that there are no opposite views?

Still womdering if you've ever lived in Lawrence, Douglas County or Kansas?
8 February 2008
at 2:58 p.m.

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JSpizias (Anonymous) says…

I would suggest that those interested in a more in depth analysis of the problems associated with immigration check out the testimony of Barry Chiswick, distinguished professor of economics, to the Senate Judiciary Committee on immigration policy.
http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony…

Also note some of the comments below by Robert Samuelson.

Still Dodging Immigration's Truths
By Robert J. Samuelson
Wednesday, May 17, 2006; A23

President Bush's immigration speech mostly missed the true nature of the problem. We face two interconnected population issues. One is aging; the other is immigration. We aren't dealing sensibly with either, and as a result we face a future of unnecessarily heightened political and economic conflict. On the one side will be older baby boomers demanding all their federal retirement benefits. On the other will be an expanding population of younger and poorer Hispanics — immigrants, their children and grandchildren — increasingly resentful of their rising taxes that subsidize often-wealthier and unrelated baby boomers.

Does this look like a harmonious future?

But you couldn't glean the danger from Bush's speech Monday night. Nor will you hear of it from most Democrats and (to be fair) the mainstream media. There is much muddle to our immigration debate. The central problem is not illegal immigration. It is undesirably high levels of poor and low-skilled immigrants, whether legal or illegal, most of whom are Hispanic. Immigrants are not all the same. An engineer making $75,000 annually contributes more to the American economy and society than a $20,000 laborer. On average, the engineer will assimilate more easily.
…..
As the president says, we need a “comprehensive” immigration policy. He's right on some elements: controlling the border; providing reliable identification cards for legal immigrants; penalizing employers that hire illegal immigrants; providing some legal status for today's illegal immigrants. But he's wrong in wanting to expand the number of low-skilled immigrants based on the fiction of U.S. labor “shortages.” In his testimony, economist Chiswick rightly argued that we should do the opposite — give preferences to skilled immigrants. We should be smart about the future; right now, we're not.

jspizias
Note also that a recent report from the National Academies also recommends a skills-based immigration policy.

Rising Above the Gathering Storm:
Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record…
8 February 2008
at 4:31 p.m.

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Horace (Anonymous) says…

Send the illegals back.
Make the legals learn English.
8 February 2008
at 6:55 p.m.

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geekin_topekan (Anonymous) says…

I see the racists have found a loophole that allows them to openly vent their racial hatred.Hiding behind a word..
“Illegal”.
Jeez.

Fairies.