教师简介

什么风把你吹到布林茅尔来了?

有两件事把我带到了布林茅尔. 一个是大学. 我知道我想待在一个离学生更近的环境里.

还有，因为费城. 我也在找地方住, and one thing I found out is the Latino—and particularly the Mexican—migrant community in Philadelphia has been growing for the last 20 years. 为了我的论文, 我做了一个以移民社区为特色的项目, 其中一个社区就在肯尼特广场. So, 布林莫尔 provided me the opportunity to continue my research and to have a very close relationship with the students.

告诉我们更多关于你的研究.

在过去几年里, I’ve been focusing on the experience of immigrant mothers who were deported to Mexico. They have been organizing in hopes of being able to come back to the United States legally to reunite with their 家庭 because they have been separated for so many years. There are a couple of mothers who were separated from their 家庭 for more than a decade. In December 2018, this mother was finally able to reunite with her family. This is a col劳动ative project with my colleague Erika Busse, from Macalester College. We have published a couple of articles based on these women and we are in the process of writing a book.

大流行期间, 我在为Juntos做志愿者, which is a grassroots organization that supports advocacy for immigrants, on a program they launched to support the immigrant community in applying for housing support. Juntos along with other local grassroots organizations identified that the Latino immigrant community was not accessing to this program due to lack of information.

I teach classes on migration, obviously, but one of them is Mexican Migrant Communities. 自从我来到布林茅尔，我就一直在教授这门课, 这是我第七次或第八次了. 我们讨论的内容之一是怀旧的政治经济学, which refers to the consumption of products immigrants were used to consume in their homelands. 在秋季学期，费城有一个活动， Día de Muertos 亡灵节. I take the students to explore and experience what it is for a migrant community to have these events that connect them to their communities of origin. 我也教移民社会学, examining the meaning of borders and the intersection between migration, 劳动, 和资本主义. 我教的另一门课是《推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜》, 我认为这是我最喜欢的一个吗, 我认为这是学生中最受欢迎的课程之一.

Another course I teach is Migrant Communities of Philadelphia, which is part of the Tri-Co program. I didn’t know anything about the migration history of Philadelphia, but as I started learning about it I just fell in love … learning about the different 移民社区(在费城)在过去的350年, 有很多相似之处, 比如为家人提供更好生活的愿望.”

You have been teaching at 布林莫尔 for nearly a decade, since 2015. What are some of the most significant changes in your area of study over that time?

I think one of the biggest changes we’ve seen over the last 10 years is the change in terms of the figure of the migrant. Before, we were more used to seeing single young men, mainly from Mexico and Central America. 现在, 我们看到更多的女性, 家庭, and unaccompanied minors coming not only from Central America and Mexico but also from Asia, 非洲, 甚至是欧洲, 来自乌克兰和俄罗斯的人也是如此. 

例如, in 2017, we went to the US-Mexico border as part of the 360° Program and had a conversation in a migrant shelter. They told us they were keeping records of the people and where they were coming from, 他们记录了45个不同的国家. In terms of migration policies, there have been so many changes, particularly at the border. Before, it was more economic migrants, but now it’s more people trying to apply for asylum.

You also study the precariousness of social services provided to the Mexican migrant community in Philadelphia in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. How has that research been affected in the past few years as facets of society push to return to pre-pandemic norms?

I think during the pandemic, the precarity, something that had been there, became clear. 例如，缺乏获得保健服务的机会.  如果他们家里有人没有证件, 整个家庭都没有资格获得这些刺激支票. For many 家庭, they were able to survive because they were using their savings. 现在, 人们已经耗尽了他们的储蓄, and are getting very indebted because they have to lend money to family members. 随着大流行，许多人失去了他们所拥有的一切.

How do you draw on your own immigrant experience in your teaching and research? 分享你的故事是否有助于学生与主题建立联系?

I’m very transparent and honest, because there is no way for me to hide my identity in that sense. 我认为这对很多学生都有很大的影响, 尤其是那些在我身上找到自己故事的学生. 对很多学生来说, 尽管他们是第二代, 他们的背景, 他们的家庭移民故事引起了共鸣.

I share that in some cases, some of those topics are very close to home. 还有一些家庭成员住在美国.S. 没有文件. 我在18岁的时候越过了边境, talking about all those things is so important to humanize the figure of the migrant. 尽管挣扎, 尽管有这些挑战, 我们在这里, 我们正在做出贡献, 我们正在成为这个国家历史的一部分, 所以我认为在一天结束的时候, 学生们很欣赏. 不仅是拉丁裔学生，还有其他学生. 对于非拉丁裔学生来说, 他们说, “我的祖父母来自德国, 从意大利, and your class has made me think about going back and talking to my grandparents about the experience.’ I think the students appreciate having someone who not only teaches but who connects theory with her own personal migration history. Having an immigrant in front of them helps put a human face to those topics that can sometimes be very abstract.

你最喜欢在布林莫尔教书的哪一部分?

It’s very interesting to see the students from the first semester and then when they leave as seniors; I can see how they have grown intellectually and emotionally and how they have matured. 我认为这是一个独特的机会.

在过去的几年里, I have been thinking about how having the opportunity to be so close to students at this point in their lives is so crucial for many of them and us as professors. 今年, 我成为了教职员团队的导师, which has allowed me to see mentorship from a different perspective. 作为一个团队的导师是另一个层面的承诺. 与学生关系密切, 能够教授自己感兴趣的课程, 拥有这样的自由, 在课程设计方面有创造性的机会. 作为教授，我们有很大的空间可以发挥创造力, 开发新课程, 去探索其他事物. I think the students can see the excitement of being able to bring all those different experiences.