presenters
Monday April 14, at 12:00 pm
The Mexican Roots of Independence: Migrants, Immigrants, and Belonging
Victor Ochoa
Victor Ochoa was born and raised in Independence, Oregon, to a multigenerational migrant family with roots in Michoacan, Jalisco, and Texas. He is a public historian who has recently been contracted by the Oregon Historical Society to collaborate on the creation of a comprehensive middle and high school bilingual history curricula for Oregon’s Latino history. These bilingual units for middle and high school students will examine the placemaking efforts of the Latino diaspora’s migrants and permanent residents and how those efforts have shaped Oregon’s history. He is a graduate of Chemeketa Community College, Western Oregon University, and a recent graduate from the University of Oregon’s master’s program in history. Victor’s thesis, “Somos de Allá y de Aquí”, focused on the construction of his home community of Independence through the arrival and interaction of Tejanos and Mexican nationals between 1950-2000. Through these interactions, he illustrates the profound power placemaking has for establishing migrant communities across physical, cultural, and historical landscapes. Apart from his scholarly pursuits, Victor is a dedicated social studies teacher at Central High School and the co-advisor for the high school’s MECHA chapter.
Wednesday April 16, at 12:00pm
Chicanx/Latinx Studies for Liberatory Outcomes: Centering Our Discipline in HSI Work
Cristina Herrera
Dr. Cristina Herrera was born and raised in Oxnard, California, and is professor and director of the Chicanx/Latinx Studies Program at Portland State University. She is the author of ChicaNerds in Chicana Young Adult Literature: Brown and Nerdy (Routledge, 2020) and co-editor of Nerds, Goths, Geeks, and Freaks: Outsiders in Chicanx and Latinx Young Adult Literature, which won the 2022 Children’s Literature Association Edited Book Award. Cristina co-authored Latinx Teens: US Popular Culture on the Page, Stage, and Screen (University of Arizona Press, 2022), an International Latino Book Award Honorable Mention title. Her most recent book, Welcome to Oxnard: Race, Place, and Chicana Adolescence in Michele Serros’s Writings (University of Pittsburgh Press), is the first manuscript to date that explores the legacy of the late Chicana writer, Michele Serros.
