Oaxaca Summer Institute

For the thirteenth year, the Oaxaca Summer Institute will provide graduate
students the opportunity to participate in a month-long analysis of modern
Mexican history and culture. The seminar is intended primarily for graduate
students in history and anthropology, but is open to those in other
disciplines, including especially public health and geography. We plan to
admit two or three outstanding undergraduate students.

Professor Guillermo Palacios of El Colegio de M=E9xico will open the
seminar with an introductory lecture on national patrimony and culture and
the challenges facing scholars when taking up these themes.


Seminar XIII will focus on five major themes, each directed by scholars fro=
m Mexico, the United States or Canada.=20

History of public health and medicine
Gabriela Soto Laveaga
(UC-Santa Barbara)

Gender, Sexuality and Power
Ann Blum
(University of Massachusetts-Boston)=20
William French=20
(University of British Columbia)

Environment in history and culture
Christopher Boyer
(University of Illinois-Chicago

A People's History of Mexico, the popular, visual, and musical heritage of
Mexico
William Beezley
(University of Arizona)

Monica Rankin
(University of Texas at Dallas)
With support of Ricardo P=E9rez Montfort (CIESA-Tlalpan)

A concluding workshop will examine violence, migration, and drugs with
Mexican and US participants from Ford Mexico Foundation project.

Other featured seminars will be offered by Deborah Dorotinsky, Instituto
de Investigaciones Est=E9ticas, UNAM; Raquel Para=EDso, Veracruz;
Guillermo
Palacios (El Colegio de M=E9xico), Deborah Poole (Johns Hopkins), Jurgen
Buchenau (UNC-Charlotte), Ana Paulo de Teresa (UAM-Iztapalapa), Mary Kay
Vaughan (University of Maryland), Francie Chassen-L=F3pez (University of
Kentucky), Daniela Traffano (CIESAS-Oaxaca), Ethelia Ruiz (INAH) and
others. The seminar sessions are conducted in both Spanish and English.
Several other scholars have been invited and will be announced shortly.


The 2011 seminar will also include weekly viewings and discussions of
feature films and documentaries, with a particular focus on the role of
film in the study of history and culture.


The cost of the seminar is $2200 US, with a $25 application fee. The fee
includes the cost of the seminar, housing with a family in Oaxaca,
breakfasts (other meals can be arrangement at minimal cost), and weekly
field trips. Participants may enroll in language classes for an additional
cost. Alternative housing in apartments or hotels can be arranged. Limited
financial aid is available on a competitive basis. Graduate credit can be
arranged. The deadline for applications is April 15, 2011.

Participants will be notified within one week after the application
deadline. Final payment and additional paperwork are due May 15 and
students will be provided with a syllabus and additional materials at that
time.

Seminar directors:
William H. Beezley (beezley@u.arizona.edu)
Gabriela Soto-Laveaga (gsotolaveaga@history.ucsb.edu

)
William E. French (wfrench@interchange.ubc.ca)
Monica Rankin (mrankin@utdallas.edu)

For additional updated information, applications, and last year's syllabus =
see the Oaxaca Summer Institute website www.oaxacainstitute.com or contact =
one of the seminar directors.

Latino Youth Majority in California

9 March 2011 Last updated at 05:53 ET

US Census: Hispanic children now majority in California

The latest figures are set to have a political impact

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• US population sees slowing rise
• Why US population growth outstrips EU
• A glance at the future: Second generation Hispanics

More than half of California's children are now of Hispanic origin, according to the US Census Bureau.

The latest data from the 2010 census shows that Latinos and Asians accounted for most of the population growth in California over the past decade.
The number of Hispanics rose 28% to 14 million, reaching near parity with non-Hispanic whites, while Asians grew 31%.
California remains the biggest state, growing to 37.3 million, but not enough for additional seats in Congress.
The detailed figures from the 2010 US Census shows that Hispanics now account for 38% of California's population, almost equal with the 40% of non-Hispanic whites.
These number 15 million, a drop of 5% on the previous census.
The Asian population now stands at 4.8 million, while the non-Hispanic black population is down 1% at 2.2 million.
Redrawing districts The state's Hispanic population under 18 years of age increased 17%, while the number of non-Hispanic white children fell 21% over the past decade.
"Hispanics are the future of California," William Frey from the Brookings Institution told the Washington Post.
"Any local or state initiatives that have to do with education need to reach out to this population."
California grew by some 10% over the past decade, on par with the national average.

Asians were the fastest-growing group in California

But it was not enough for the state to pick up more seats in the House of Representatives.
This contrasts with the next biggest state, Texas, whose population grew nearly 19% to 25 million and has gained an extra four congressional seats.
The figures released on Tuesday also show a shift in population within California.
Inland areas registered more growth rather than the traditional centres such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The census figures are also used to redraw legislative and congressional districts within states.
The 2010 Census figures will have more impact than before because for the first time an independent body, the Citizens Redistricting Commission, will be responsible for setting the boundaries for districts represented in California's Senate and Assembly.
Previously, districts were redrawn by politicians.

Mexico Police Chief Marisol Valles Seeks Asylum in US

9 March 2011 Last updated at 02:35 ET

Mexico police chief Marisol Valles seeks US asylum

Marisol Valles had been hailed as Mexico's bravest woman

Continue reading the main story

MEXICO'S DRUGS WAR

• Agent's murder: Impact on US-Mexico ties
• Analysing the murder figures
• Q&A: Drug violence
• Battling the cartels

Mexico's youngest police chief, Marisol Valles Garcia, has fled to the US after apparently receiving death threats, US immigration officials have confirmed.

She attracted worldwide attention last year when she became police chief of a border town plagued by drug violence after no-one else dared take the job.
She is now seeking asylum in the US after fleeing across the border into Texas.
Ms Valles was sacked from her post on Monday for being absent without leave.
The criminology student was hailed as Mexico's bravest woman in October when she became head of public security in the border town of Praxedis G Guerrero at the age of 20.
The town is in the Juarez Valley in Chihuahua state, a battleground for drugs cartels fighting over lucrative smuggling routes into the US.
Local police and officials in the region have been frequent targets for attack despite a large military presence.

At the time of her appointment, she told the BBC she was accepting the role despite the risks involved because she felt Mexican citizens had a responsibility to try to improve security.
Praxedis is close to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most violent city, where more than 3,000 people were killed in drug-related violence in 2010 alone.
The US Customs and Immigration Enforcement agency (ICE) confirmed that Ms Valles was in the country.
"She will have the opportunity to present the facts of her case before an impartial immigration judge," an ICE official told Reuters.

Concluding Remarks

Dear all,

It has been a pleasure to share thoughts and reflections with you in the blogosphere. This blog will stay up for as long as we prefer, and you are free to continue posting on it and/or referring to it. I hope that this course has functioned for you in several ways: 1) as a mechanism for raising our collective awareness regarding some of the most pressing political, economic, social, and cultural phenomena currently transpiring on the US-Mexico border; 2) as a survey of fascinating, controversial, innovative, creative, and virtuosic artworks across several genres that have addressed themes of the "borderlands;" 3) and, finally, as a place where we can converse and engage in dialogue about these controversial and traumatic issues without collapsing into polemicism and partisanship. I think that you have been excellent leaders and participants in all of these respects, and I thank you for this cross-border journey. I hope that your final projects move beyond the classroom and that you can also find a way to return to some of these art pieces and border themes in your future work. Have a great spring break!

Best,
KZ

Mexico Shootout Leaves 18 Dead in Tamaulipas

8 March 2011 Last updated at 02:51 ET

Mexico shootout leaves 18 dead in Tamaulipas state

Continue reading the main story

MEXICO'S DRUGS WAR

• Agent's murder: Impact on US-Mexico ties
• Analysing the murder figures
• Q&A: Drug violence
• Battling the cartels

Gunbattles between rival gangs in a north-eastern Mexican town have left 18 people dead, police say.

The Tamaulipas state government said shooting erupted in the town of Abasolo but gave few details.
Gunmen in trucks and other vehicles had exchanged fire around the town, reports said.
Tamaulipas has been at the centre of a turf war between the Gulf and Los Zetas cartels, which are battling to control lucrative drug smuggling routes.
Mexican media say Abasolo has lacked a state police command post for several months.
Reports said Tamaulipas residents exchanged Twitter messages about Monday's shootings hours before the bloodshed was confirmed by the state government. Some tweets warned people to stay indoors.
The shooting, which began at about 0650 local time on Monday, lasted several hours.
In a brief statement, the state government said federal troops and police had been sent to restore order.
Abasolo is an agricultural community about 100km (60 miles) from the state capital, Ciudad Victoria, and has a population of about 14,000.
Last month, shootings in the nearby town of Padilla also left 18 people dead.
More than 34,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against the drug gangs in late 2006.

How to cross the border: Some suggestions for Illegal immigrants

Quebradita and the pasito duranguense are more than just a passing fad; their practitioners saw it as an ethnic celebration against the oppressive and unwelcoming backdrop of anti-immigration sentiments and growing xenophobia. This is perhaps one of the most overt examples of art as a rallying cry that we've studied in this class. Hutchinson notes that the dance clubs that sponsored the quebradita provided a forum for embodying a confrontational aesthetic and a space for creating cross-cultural bridges; it is more a political gathering than mere leisure activity. How might these "bridges" affect the demographic makeup of other free assembly political meetings? Will the quebradita and other ethnic celebrations become a political weapon commonly used for campaign rallies, for example?