Author-scholar Jennifer Bickham Mendez will speak at University of Richmond on social barriers facing Latino immigrants

October 7, 2009

Author and scholar Jennifer Bickham Mendez will discuss social membership and exclusion of Latino immigrants undergoing cultural and demographic transitions in a talk Oct. 29 at the University of Richmond.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m., in Weinstein Hall, Brown-Alley Room.

Her appearance is jointly sponsored by Women Involved in Living and Learning (WILL) and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS). Each year the groups sponsor a speaker series to discuss gender and diversity issues.

Mendez’s current research examines Latino immigration to Williamsburg, Va. Her talk will explore the parameters of social membership that divide those who “belong here” and those deemed “undeserving outsiders.”

Mendez’s book, “From the Revolution to the Maquiladoras: Gender, Labor and Globalization in Nicaragua,” received the 2008 Annual Book Award from the Political Economy of the World System Section of the American Sociological Association. She is an associate professor of sociology at The College of William and Mary.

For more information, call 804-289-8840.