WWU to host Victor Alfaro for pair of lectures today, May 3

Western Washington University’s Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Canadian American Studies Department, and Department of Anthropology will host Victor Clark Alfaro, founder and director of the Binational Center for Human Rights in Tijuana and lecturer in the Latin American Studies Department at San Diego State University, for a pair of lectures on Monday, May 3. Both lectures are free and open to the public.

World Issues Forum: “Violence on the Border: The Case of Tijuana” - Noon-1:20 p.m., Fairhaven College Auditorium

The last two decades have witnessed dramatic growth in violence along the Mexico-U.S. Border as a result of several factors: political changes, changes brought about through globalization, shifts in the drug market, new drugs, corruption, and impunity of government and political leaders. This violence undermines not only human rights but the very quality of life of those living on the border.

Paths to Global Justice: “Crossing Borders: Coyotes, Migrants and Human Rights” - 3-4:20 p.m., Communications Facility 110

There are many means by which the labor force that sustains key sectors of the U.S. economy gets to the destinations where they are needed. Coyotes – human smugglers – play a fundamental and not well-understood role in these dynamics. Research and advocacy help us understand critical dynamics of abuse as well as collective efforts to achieve safety and respect.

Victor Clark Alfaro is a native of Tijuana, with a master’s degree in Social Anthropology from Iberoamerican University in Mexico City and a doctorate in Sociology from University of California at San Diego. After serving as a professor at Autonomous University of Baja California, he has since 1999 taught through the Center for Latin American Studies at San Diego State University. He is the founder and director of the Binational Center for Human Rights in Tijuana, started in 1987. He has served on various boards, including the National Commission for Development of Indigenous Communities in Mexico, and grassroots organizations of working women in Tijuana. He has written extensively for media venues, including as columnist for the Pacific News Service and La Opinión (Los Angeles’ largest Spanish-language newspaper), and is also the author of two books on Mixtec migrants on the border.

For more information on the World Issues Forum speaker series presented by Western Washington University’s Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, call Shirley Osterhaus at (360) 650-2309 or visit the World Issues Forum Web site at http://www.wwu.edu/depts/fairhaven/.

WWU's Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, established in 1967, is nationally recognized for innovation in teaching and learning, intensive advising, student-designed majors, narrative assessment, experiential and independent learning and a commitment to social justice.