Date: Thursday, December 5, 2024
Time: 5 p.m., PST
Where: University Library Community Room, 5151 State University Dr, Cal State Los Angeles, CA
Rafael Martínez will speak about his book Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States at California State University, Los Angeles. He will present his visionary approach to crafting counter archives that elevate decolonial and anti-neoliberal knowledge. Martínez is an assistant professor in the Southwest Borderlands Initiative at Arizona State University whose work focuses on immigrant rights, mixed-status families, and Latinx cultural and historical productions in the Southwest borderlands.
This in-person event is free and open to the public, and it is sponsored by the Department of Chicana(o) & Latina(o) Studies and the Cal State Family Dreamers Resource Center.
About the book:
Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States takes readers on a journey through the history of the rise of undocumented youth social movements in the United States in the twenty-first century. The book follows the documentation trail of undocumented youth activists spanning over two decades of organizing. Each chapter carefully analyzes key organizing strategies used by undocumented youth to produce direct forms of activism that expose and critique repressive forms of state control and violence. This inquiry is particularly generative in relation to how immigrant bodies are erased, contained, and imagined as “aliens” or “illegal.”
Date: Friday, December 6, 2024
Time: 12 p.m., EST
Where: Ziibiing Lab, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario
Rafael Martínez will present his book, Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States, during a Lunch & Learn at Ziibiing Lab. Martínez’s work focuses on immigration, migration, the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, and American Southwest. This book, his first with the University of Arizona Press, analyzes the rise of Undocumented Youth Social Movements in the U.S. and immigrant youth’s contributions to the broader Immigrant Rights Movements. His work engages in Borderlands Studies to demonstrate how communities along the Mexico-U.S. border contribute to the social, political, and economic fabric of the U.S.
This event is free and open to the public. Food and drinks will be provided by Ziibiing Lab and the University of Toronto Indigenous Research Network. Please register here.
About the book:
Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States takes readers on a journey through the history of the rise of undocumented youth social movements in the United States in the twenty-first century. The book follows the documentation trail of undocumented youth activists spanning over two decades of organizing. Each chapter carefully analyzes key organizing strategies used by undocumented youth to produce direct forms of activism that expose and critique repressive forms of state control and violence. This inquiry is particularly generative in relation to how immigrant bodies are erased, contained, and imagined as “aliens” or “illegal.”
When: March 15-16, 2025
Where: The University of Arizona Campus, Tucson, AZ
Mark your calendars for the Tucson Festival of Books, a community-wide celebration of literature. As always, the festival is free to attend. Keep an eye on this page for more information about University of Arizona Press authors who will be participating in the festival, or sign up for our newsletter to get updates
In the meantime, why not check out some highlights from last year’s festival? See photos of all the amazing authors and community members who stopped by our tent.
We look forward to seeing you at this year’s festival!
Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Time: 6 p.m., MST
Where: Tumamoc Hill Boathouse (bottom of the hill), 1675 W. Anklam Rd., Tucson
Tumamoc Desert Laboratory Director Elise Gornish interviews Tucson author Michelle Téllez about a women-centered social movement in the borderlands. They will speak on “Women leading the fight for rights to land, health, and education” for the Tuesday Tumamoc Author Series. The discussion features Téllez’s book, Border Women and the Community of Maclovio Rojas, and how women work together to address issues of health, education, housing, nutrition, and security in border communities. This is a book about hope, struggle and possibility on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico Border.
This event is free and open to the public, and it is co-sponsored by the Desert Laboratory at Tumamoc Hill and the Southwest Center at the University of Arizona. Please register here.
About the book:
Border Women and the Community of Maclovio Rojas tells the story of the community’s struggle to carve out space for survival and thriving in the shadows of the U.S.-Mexico geopolitical border. This ethnography by Téllez demonstrates the state’s neglect in providing social services and local infrastructure. This neglect exacerbates the structural violence endemic to the border region—a continuation of colonial systems of power on the urban, rural, and racialized poor. Téllez shows that in creating the community of Maclovio Rojas, residents have challenged prescriptive notions of nation and belonging. Through women’s active participation and leadership, a women’s political subjectivity has emerged—Maclovianas. These border women both contest and invoke their citizenship as they struggle to have their land rights recognized, and they transform traditional political roles into that of agency and responsibility.
Date: Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Time: 6 p.m., MST
Where: Tumamoc Hill Boathouse (bottom of the hill), 1675 W. Anklam Rd., Tucson
Melani Martinez, Tucson author of The Molino: A Memoir, will present her book as part of the Tuesday Tumamoc Author Series. She will speak on “The Tucson Family Behind El Rapido.” Martinez’s new book takes place in the sunset shadow of Tumamoc Hill, and reckons with one family’s loss of home, food, and faith. Weaving together history, culture, and Mexican food traditions, Martinez shares the story of her family’s life and work in the downtown eatery, El Rapido. Martinez’s work documents the work required to prepare food for others, and explores the heartbreaking aftermath of gentrification that forced the multigenerational family business to close its doors.
This event is free and open to the public, and it is co-sponsored by the Desert Laboratory at Tumamoc Hill and the Southwest Center at the University of Arizona. Please register here.
About the book:
Opened by Martinez’s great-grandfather, Aurelio Perez, in 1933, El Rapido served tamales and burritos to residents and visitors to Tucson’s historic Barrio Presidio for nearly seventy years. For the family, the factory that bound them together was known for the giant corn grinder churning behind the scenes—the molino. The book also tells of Martinez’s personal story—that of a young Tucsonense coming of age in the 1980s and ’90s. As a young woman she rejects the work in her father’s popular kitchen, but when the business closes, her world shifts and the family disbands. When she finds her way back home, the tortillería’s iconic mural provides a gateway into history and ruin, ancestry and sacrifice, industrial myth and artistic incarnation—revealing a sacred presence still alive in Tucson.
A must-read for foodies, history lovers, and anyone searching for spiritual truth in the desert, this is a story of belonging and transformation in the borderlands.
Date: Sunday, December 1, 2024
Time: 3 p.m., PDT
Where: Art House Gallery & Cultural Center , 2905 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA
Poet Denise Low will read from her book, House of Grace, House of Blood: Poems, at The Art House Gallery & Cultural Center in Berkeley, California. Low is a former Kansas Poet Laureate and a founding board member of Indigenous Nations Poets. Poet Lucille Lang Day will also read from Poetry and Science: Writing Our Way to Discovery.
This free in-person event is hosted by Poetry Flash. Refreshments will be provided.
About the book:
Intertwining a lyrical voice with historical texts, Low brings fresh urgency to the Gnadenhutten Massacre. In 1782, a renegade Pennsylvania militia killed ninety-six pacificist Christian Delawares (Lenapes) in Ohio. Those who escaped, including Indigenous eyewitnesses, relayed their accounts of the atrocity. Like Layli Longsoldier’s Whereas and Simon Ortiz’s from Sand Creek, Low delves into a critical incident of Indigenous peoples’ experiences. Readers will explore with the poet how trauma persists through hundreds of years, and how these peoples have survived and flourished in the subsequent generations.
Date: Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Time: 12-1:30 p.m., MST
Where: Labriola Center, Hayden Library Room 204, Arizona State University, 300 E Orange Mall, Tempe, AZ
Editors Jerome Jeffrey Clark and Elise Boxer will talk about their book, From the Skin: Defending Indigenous Nations Using Theory and Praxis, at the Labriola Center at ASU. They will be joined by Dr. Brittani Orona, Eric Hardy, and Alex Soto as they discuss what it means to theorize and practice American Indian Studies (AIS). This hybrid book talk event will highlight AIS contributions and scholarship. It will lead-up to the annual AISA conference happening on February 6-7, 2025. This is a free, in-person event; the first 30 attendees will receive a free copy of From the Skin! Refreshments will be provided.
This event is sponsored by ASU partners: The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, American Indian Studies, Labriola National American Indian Data Center and the Relate Lab: An Anti-Colonial Collective for Relationalities, Stories, and Sciences.
This book talk is also available through Zoom.
About the book:
In From the Skin, contributors reflect on and describe how they apply the theories and concepts of Indigenous studies to their communities, programs, and organizations, and the ways the discipline has informed and influenced the same. They show the ways these efforts advance disciplinary theories, methodologies, and praxes. Chapters cover topics including librarianship, health programs, community organizing, knowledge recovery, youth programming, and gendered violence. Through their examples, the contributors show how they negotiate their peoples’ knowledge systems with knowledge produced in Indigenous studies programs, demonstrating how they understand the relationship between their people, their nations, and academia.
Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Time: 12 p.m., PDT
Where: 3201 Hart Hall, 301 Shields Ave., UC Davis, Davis, CA, register here
Rafael Martínez will lead a workshop, “UndocScholarship and Movement Building,” that delves into the methodological approach of (un)documenting immigrant and undocumented social movements, activism, and strategies of resistance. The workshop is based on this new book, Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the Unites States. Martínez is an assistant professor in the Southwest Borderlands Initiative at Arizona State University whose work focuses on immigrant rights, mixed-status families, and Latinx cultural and historical productions in the Southwest borderlands.
This in-person event is free and open to the public, and registration is required. Refreshments will be served. The event is sponsored by the UC Davis Undocumented Student Resource Center, UC Davis Chicana/o Studies, and UC Davis Asian American Studies.
About the book:
Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States takes readers on a journey through the history of the rise of undocumented youth social movements in the United States in the twenty-first century. The book follows the documentation trail of undocumented youth activists spanning over two decades of organizing. Each chapter carefully analyzes key organizing strategies used by undocumented youth to produce direct forms of activism that expose and critique repressive forms of state control and violence. This inquiry is particularly generative in relation to how immigrant bodies are erased, contained, and imagined as “aliens” or “illegal.”
Date: Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Time: 1:00-2:30 p.m., PDT
Where: Gourmet Dining Room, Santa Barbara City College, 721 Cliff Dr., Santa Barbara, CA
Rafael Martínez will lead an UndocScholarship workshop based on his new book, Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States. The first 50 people to arrive at the workshop will receive a free signed copy of the book! Martínez is an assistant professor in the Southwest Borderlands Initiative at Arizona State University whose work focuses on immigrant rights, mixed-status families, and Latinx cultural and historical productions in the Southwest borderlands.
This in-person event is free and open to the public. Antojitos and efreshments will be served. The event is sponsored by SBCC’s Raíces: First Year and Beyond and Extended Opportunities Programs and Services.
About the book:
Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States takes readers on a journey through the history of the rise of undocumented youth social movements in the United States in the twenty-first century. The book follows the documentation trail of undocumented youth activists spanning over two decades of organizing. Each chapter carefully analyzes key organizing strategies used by undocumented youth to produce direct forms of activism that expose and critique repressive forms of state control and violence. This inquiry is particularly generative in relation to how immigrant bodies are erased, contained, and imagined as “aliens” or “illegal.”
Date: Monday, November 4, 2024
Time: 4-5:30 p.m., PDT
Where: Bunche Hall, Rm 6275, 11282 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA
Edward Anthony Polanco, author of Healing Like Our Ancestors: The Nahua Tiçitl, Gender, and Settler Colonialism in Central Mexico, 1535-1660, will give a book talk on “In Cintli, In Pahtli: Corn as a Cure in Nahua Communities,” at the University of California, Los Angeles. Polanco is the Director of Indigenous Studies and an assistant professor of history at Virginia Tech. His research interests include Mesoamerica, Mexico, El Salvador, Indigenous sovereignty, Nahua peoples, and decolonization. This free in-person event is open to the public.
About the book:
Offering a provocative new perspective, Healing Like Our Ancestors examines sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Nahua healers in central Mexico and how their practices have been misconstrued and misunderstood in colonial records.
Early colonial Spanish settlers defined, assessed, and admonished Nahua titiçih (healing specialists) and tiçiyotl (healing knowledge) in the process of building a society in Mexico that mirrored Iberia. Nevertheless, Nahua survivance (intergenerational knowledge transfer) has allowed communities to heal like their ancestors through changes and adaptations. Polanco draws from diverse colonial primary sources, largely in Spanish and Nahuatl (the Nahua ancestral language), to explore how Spanish settlers framed titiçih, their knowledge, and their practices within a Western complex.
The University of Arizona Press
