Author of Book on Japanese Mexicans to Speak

Self A. Chew will give a presentation on her new book, “Uprooting Community: Japanese Mexicans, WWII and U.S.-Mexico Borderlands” (University of Arizona, 2015), on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 3 p.m. at the Chicano Studies Research Center Library, 144 Haines Hall on the UCLA campus.

The book examines the difficult circumstances of Japanese Mexicans during World War II. Through new archival discoveries and oral histories, the author challenges the notion that Japanese Mexicans enjoyed the protection of the Mexican government during the war and argues that they were instead victims to racial prejudices.

“Uprooting Community” was the second-place winner in the history category at the International Latino Book Awards in September.

Chew teaches classes on U.S. history, Afro-Mexican history, the Asian diaspora in Latin America, and African American history at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and New Mexico State University. She holds an MFA in creative writing and a Ph.D. in borderlands history from UTEP.

Joining Chew will be Miguel Juárez, a doctoral candidate at UTEP. In 2008, he was an associate librarian at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.

All CSRC events are free. All-day parking and short-term parking (payable at pay stations) are available in Lots 2, 3 or 4 (enter the campus at Hilgard and Westholme avenues). For more information, visit www.chicano.ucla.edu.