*CANCELED* Trade, Improvement and Survival: An Indigenous Approach to the Current Immigration "Crisis"

This talk will address the theme of migration from an indigenous perspective within a larger context of racial oppression. Dr. Velasquez states: "My argument stems from a recognition of the need to reflect on issues of migration, race and indigenous peoples simultaneously. This approach turns out to be a complex task, since these are topics that the media, everyday life, institutions and even in academia addressed separately. In addition, I view migration not only as an analytical category, or a recent process that is exclusively negative or criminalized, because for the indigenous peoples of north, center or South America, migrating was not always a means of survival, as it is now due to the pressure of the world economic system. Historically for many indigenous groups, migrating stems from a process of trade, as well as cultural and intellectual exchange, present since pre-Hispanic times and that despite the current political pressure, tries to maintain its continuity." This talk will be in English.

Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj, Maya-K'iche' journalist, activist, and a 2019-2020 Stanford University visiting professor from Guatemala. Dr. Nimatuj is an international spokeswoman for Indigenous communities in Central America and was the first Maya-K'iche' woman to earn a doctorate in social anthropology in Guatemala.