Historian and activist Aviva Chomsky to speak on immigration November 2, 2017

In a timely lecture, celebrated historian, activist and Latin America specialist Aviva Chomsky will give a talk on immigration issues at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, in Gooding Auditorium.

Chomsky, professor of history and coordinator of Latin American studies at Salem State University in Massachusetts, will speak on “Criminalization, Immigration and Citizenship in the 21st Century.” The event is hosted by the JU College of Arts and Sciences‘ Division of Humanities and is free to the public.

Chomsky’s most recent book is Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal (Beacon Press). Her scholarly work has its origins in the mid-‘70s, when she worked for the United Farm Workers union, piquing her interest in the Spanish language, migrant workers, labor history and social movements, and in how people collectively organize for social change.

“Thematically, I incorporate the issues of colonialism, economic development, migration, race, labor, environment and global inequality,” she says in her Salem State bio.

“In a post-truth era mistakenly taken for ‘appealing and angry political incorrectness,’ it is very important to have a real politically incorrect, intellectual challenger figure such as Aviva Chomsky, a world-respected scholar who presents the complex reality of facts — particularly those conveniently forgotten by socially fabricated narratives — in a way that anyone can understand,” said Dr. Jorge Majfud, associate professor of Spanish, who is co-organizing the event.

Chomsky is the author of numerous additional books, including They Take Our Jobs! And 20 Other Myths About Immigration (Beacon Press), and writes regularly for The Nation and the venerated essayist site TomDispatch.com, including articles such as "Clinton and Obama Laid the Groundwork for Donald Trump’s War on Immigrants," "America Wanted to Keep Immigrants Out Long Before Donald Trump Was Even Born," and "The Criminalization of Immigrants From Clinton to Trump."

In its review of Undocumented, Publisher’s Weekly states: “Chomsky reminds readers that, contrary to the freedom with which American citizens travel, for many, ‘freedom to travel is a distant dream.’ Professional in her scholarship, Chomsky has written a book that will be relevant to those who do not share her position as well as to those who do.”

Prior to her lecture in English at 6:30 p.m., Chomsky will record an interview in Spanish with Dr. Douglas Hazzard, associate professor of Spanish, and Dr. Majfud for European and Latin American audiences.

For more information on the lecture, contact Dr. Jorge Majfud at jmajfud@ju.edu or (904) 256-7929.