What happened
With support from the Migrations Program at Cornell’s Einaudi Center for International Studies, Vicente Celestino Mata, Jr. and I organized a full-day conference that brought together scholars, students, practitioners, and community members. We talked through migration, labor, displacement, borders, belonging, law, inequality, and the political forces shaping the lives of migrants and workers today.
People came from history, anthropology, law, public policy, global development, literature, economics, and labor relations. I’m grateful to everyone who presented, moderated, brought posters, and stayed for the conversation, and especially to Vicente, Katie Fiorella, and Kathy Peck, whose coordination made the day possible.
“Seeing the Americas Whole”: Richard Rodriguez’s Thesis on Migrants and Migration in the Era of American Carnage
Paul Ortiz, Professor of Labor History, Cornell ILR. Drawing on testimonios and novelists including Carlos Fuentes, Edwige Danticat, and Julissa Arce, the keynote took up assimilation, today’s anti-immigrant politics, and the future of the labor movement.
Borders, Polarization, and Belonging
Shannon Gleeson (ILR & Brooks School) · Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer (Cornell Law School) · moderated by Vicente Mata, Jr.
A Way Forward: Methodological and Theoretical Perspectives for Studying Migration
Patricia Campos-Medina (ILR Worker Institute) · Bryan L. Sykes (Public Policy & Sociology) · moderated by Adolfho Romero
Kyunghee Kang · Sudeep Sarkar · Min Htut · Henry Lyu Cheng · Saida Hodžić with Sophia Spillane and Darius Tyler · Josefina Rodriguez Pletikosic · Yinka Adetu · Miranda Castro
PostersSophia Spillane · Darius Tyler · Lorenzo Morales-DuBois · Shaoshao Tang
Moderators & welcomeKatie Fiorella, Faculty Director, Migrations Program · Adwoa Tiwaa Ofori Atakorah · Zhixia Carrie Mo
