Alicia Schmidt Camacho - Distinguished Speaker

Defending Human Mobility: Lessons from the North American Migratory Circuit

Hardening national borders has had far-reaching social and political consequences across North America. Despite the vital importance of migrants to the regional economy and social order, current labor markets and political regimes deprive migrants of basic human rights and deny their social integration. Camacho examines the efforts of communities and migrants to protect themselves against state and criminal violence, through social movements that deploy alternate languages of belonging and value.

Camacho is one of the foremost scholars of contemporary culture and politics on the U.S.-Mexico border. In her first book, Migrant Imaginaries: Latino Cultural Politics in the Mexico–U.S. Borderlands, Camacho examines “world-making narratives” produced by migrants as they aspire to understand, describe, and change their social positions. Her current work continues to explore migrant agency with a focus on undocumented immigrants. She serves on the board of Junta for Progressive Action and is a contributor to local and transnational projects for immigrant and human rights.

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