President’s Message and the Annual Meeting in Vancouver

For all of us, this year continues to be one filled with challenges and serious issues affecting our communities. The terrible murders of innocents in El Paso and Blyth are a manifestation of the hateful dynamics promulgated by present national politics towards our people. We refuse to countenance this by allowing this hate to drive our responses or our emotions. I know that at times we all feel overwhelmed, but together we are united in discourse, and more importantly, in community action. This year’s activities and panels at the 2019 AAA/CASCA Annual Meeting in Vancouver will address many of the issues and problems that our communities face.

This year, we are fortunate that ALLA and SUNTA are co-sponsoring the engaged community event “Bridging Latin Cultures through Migration and Community Empowerment,” and we are partnering with Latincouver, a local community organization in Vancouver that serves as a hub for Latinx organizations. The event is scheduled for Thursday, November 21 from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the Latin Plaza Hub in Vancouver.

As well, we will come together as a community at the ALLA Business Meeting, which is scheduled for Friday, November 22 at 12:15 p.m. at Vancouver CC WEST, Room 209, and at the ALLA Board Meeting,” scheduled for Thursday, November 21 at 2:00 p.m. at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, Mackenzie I.

It is most fitting that during the business meeting, we will have the honor of recognizing an exemplary individual whose research and public presence for many years have been national and international bulwarks against the negative narratives regarding our immigrant communities. It is our privilege to award the Distinguished Career Award to Leo R. Chávez (UC-Irvine). Chávez is the author of several books, including Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society, Covering Immigration: Popular Images and the Politics of the Nation, The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation, and his latest book, Anchor Babies and the Challenge of Birthright Citizenship.

Leo R. Chávez, University of California-Irvine. Steve Zylius/UCI

As well, we are also privileged to award the Graduate Student Paper Award to Sofía Vicente-Vidal (University of Oregon). The Review Committee found her paper, “The Coloniality of Being in the Tourist Space of Chichén Itzá,” insightful, penetrating, and original for its critical approach to world heritage and tourism. It integrated a coloniality of power analysis and first-rate ethnography to a most serious world issue.

Sofía Vicente-Vidal. Sofía Vicente-Vidal

(4-1100) Borders, Policing, and Latinx Immigrant Vulnerability: A roundtable discussion of four new ethnographies of immigrant policing in the United States
Friday, November 22, 4:15 p.m.
Location: Vancouver CC WEST, Room 122

(5-0205) Organic Archives: Collaborative Justice-Making in Times of Crisis
Saturday, November 23, 8:00 a.m.
Location: Vancouver CC WEST, Room 222

(5-0815) Familiar Strangers: The Making and Continuity of Canada-U.S. State-sanctioned ‘Seasonal’ Migrant Labor
Saturday, November 23, 2:00 p.m.
Location: Vancouver CC WEST, Room 103 and 104

(5-1195) Narrative Remix: Rewriting History, Reimagining the Future, and the Politics of Community
Saturday, November 23, 4:15 p.m.
Location: Vancouver CC WEST, Room 115

Finally, we are also committed that the next generations be given the opportunity to engage with established faculty in two mentoring events. The graduate student mentoring event, “(3-0415) Community-Based Research—An ALLA Mentoring Session,” will be held on Thursday, November 21 at the Vancouver CC EAST, Room 8, and the junior faculty mentoring event will take place on Friday, November 22 at 2:00 p.m. in Vancouver CC EAST, Room 8.

These are difficult times and now more than ever we need each other.

¡Nos vemos en Vancouver!