The Vulnerabilities of Labor Migrants

April 5-7, 2007

Keynote Speakers:

Mark Grey, Director of the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration and Professor of Anthropology, University of Northern Iowa, "Migration, Transnational Communities and the Myth of Immigration Control"

Professor Joseph Nevins, Geography, Vassar College,"Global Apartheid? International Mobility, Migrant Vulnerability, and the U.S.-Mexico Boundary and Beyond"

Professor Mary Clark Rockefeller, Environmental Studies, Vassar College

Sidney Mintz, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, "Emerging Creole: Creolization and the Construction of Culture"

Schedule:

Thursday, April 5th

4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. - Welcome and opening remarks
William M. Reisinger, Associate Provost and Dean for International Programs, UI
Rex Honey, Director, Crossing Borders Program, Geography, UI
Mark Grey ,Director of the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration and Professor of Anthropology, University of Northern Iowa, "Migration, Transnational Communities and the Myth of Immigration Control"

7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. - Film screening
"Lilya 4-Ever" (Director Lukas Moodysson, 2003)

Friday, April 6th

8:45 a.m - 10:15 a.m. - Welcome and introduction
Rex Honey, Geography, UI

Professor Joseph Nevins, Geography, Vassar College,"Global Apartheid? International Mobility, Migrant Vulnerability, and the U.S.-Mexico Boundary and Beyond"

Professor Mary Clark Rockefeller, Environmental Studies, Vassar College

10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Faculty-Student Panel 1
Chair: Chitra Akhoor

Nahed Artoul Zehr, Department of Religious Studies, University of Iowa, "Diaspora and the Occupied Territories: Exile in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip"
*Crossing Borders Fellow*

Brian J. Miller, Department of History, University of Iowa, "The Turkish Other's Others: Media Representations of Turkish Economic Migrants in Germany within Turkish Press, 1957-1975" *Crossing Borders Fellow*

Sushmita Banerji, Cinema and Comparative Literature, University of Iowa, "Bangladesh: Between Old and New Diasporas" *Crossing Borders Fellow*

Cristina Ortiz, Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa, "Drawing Boundaries: Diaspora, Midwestern Hispanic Identity and the Catholic Church"

1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Faculty-Student Panel 2
Chair: Douglas Grane

Martha Scarpellino, Department of Geography, University of Iowa "Corriendo: Hard Boundaries, Human Rights and the Undocumented Immigrant"

Luke Juran, Department of Geography, University of Iowa, "Microfinance: A progressive model towards human rights standards and universalities" *Crossing Borders Fellow*

Consuelo Guayara, Department of Geography, University of Iowa, "The role of intellectuals’ sense of place and social positionalities in the production of Amazonian environment" *Crossing Borders Fellow*

John Njue, College of Education, University of Iowa, "Academic Performance and Transition Issues Facing African Immigrants in an American High School"

4:00 p.m. The Department of Anthropology 2006-2007 Colloquium Series

Sidney Mintz, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, "Emerging Creole: Creolization and the Construction of Culture"

Evening Discussion
Professor Rachel Kurian, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, "Toiling to Care: The Vulnerabilities of Women Health Workers in the Global Labor Market"

Saturday, April 7th

8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. - Morning Reception
Professor Sidney Mintz, Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University

9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. -  Faculty-Student Panel
Chair: Lynette Jacobson

Vivek Neelakantan, History Department, University of Iowa, "Historical perspective on US immigration policy towards the disabled immigrants (1880-1920)" *Crossing Borders Fellow*

Linda Mokdad, Cinema and Comparative Literature, University of Iowa," Reimagining Alexandria: The Production of History in Youssef Chahine's Autobiographical Trilogy" *Crossing Borders Fellow*

JFDP Scholars, Muhabat Bakaeva (Uzbekistan), Yryskhan Nogoibaeva (Kyrgyzstan), Tatyana Zayseva (Azerbaijan), "New Countries, New Challenges"

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon - Panel Discussion
Rachel Kurian, Mark Grey, Joe Nevins, and Rex Honey about "Vulnerabilities of Labor Migrants"

12:00 noon - 12:10 p.m. Closing Remarks
Rex Honey, Director, Crossing Borders Program, UI Geography