Articles tagged with "community"

Cristina Ortiz remembers growing up as part of the lone Latino family in Leon, Iowa, a tiny town in south central Iowa with less than 2,000 residents.

“My paternal grandparents were Mexican-American migrant workers, and the Latino population in Leon was basically my family,” says the 32-year-old University of Iowa anthropology doctoral student who is pursuing research that includes the Chin Burmese refugee population in Columbus Junction, Iowa, her new home during graduate school.

The UI South Asian Studies Program will welcome Bandana Purkayastha, professor of sociology and Asian American studies at the University of Connecticut, for a guest lecture on “Racialized transnationalism in the 21st century: Lessons from the experiences of South Asian Americans.” The presentation will be held Friday, April 12, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in 1117 University Capitol Centre.

You may recognize her striking face from fashion spreads in Elle and Vogue or the Victoria's Secret runway, but Alek Wek has another story to tell. Not that of an international supermodel but of the struggles of life as a refugee.

On April 5, Wek will tell the story of her personal journey as a refugee and her current work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) when she appears as a guest on International Programs’ WorldCanvass television and radio program as part of the UI Provost’s Global Forum on Refugees in the Heartland. WorldCanvass will be held in the Old Capitol Senate Chamber from 5 to 7 p.m., on Friday, April 5, 2013, and the public is invited to attend.

In an upcoming UI presentation, Clemencia Rodríguez, professor of communication at the University of Oklahoma, will present part of her extensive research on how Colombians turn to community media – including radio, television, video, digital photography, and the Internet – as tools to forge lives for themselves and their families that are not entirely colonized by armed conflict and its effects.

International immigrants are attracted to the Midwest, and Iowa specifically, for its low unemployment rate and cost of living, diverse economic sectors, and educational opportunities, said Amy Weismann, associate director for the University of Iowa’s Center for Human Rights.

“Especially for refugees, people come from places with violence and economic strife where they fear authorities,” she said. “Iowa is much less anxious and a more accommodating place to live and not only survive but thrive.”

Who is a refugee? What distinguishes refugees from immigrants? When and how is refugee status recognized by nations and governments? How do refugee crises arise and what can be done to aid refugees in resettlement? What’s the history of refugee resettlement in the Midwest? These are just a few of the questions WorldCanvass guests will address on the April 5 program “Refugees in the Heartland.” The program takes place from 5-7 p.m. in the Senate Chamber of Old Capitol Museum and is free and open to the public.