Bringing the Border to Columbus | A Book Talk and Conversation with Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Photograph of border wall along long, dirt road
April 15, 2021
11:00AM - 12:15PM
Zoom

Date Range
2021-04-15 11:00:00 2021-04-15 12:15:00 Bringing the Border to Columbus | A Book Talk and Conversation with Karla Cornejo Villavicencio Bringing the Border to Columbus Virtual Symposium April 12-16, 2021 This event is a conversation with Karla Cornejo Villavicencio about her groundbreaking book The Undocumented Americans — a Barack Obama Favorite Book of 2020 and shortlisted for a National Book Award and a National Book Critics' Circle Award. About The Undocumented Americans: At a time when the fabled American Dream is turning into a nightmare for so many, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s searing debut, The Undocumented Americans, is an incandescent and fearless indictment against the dark systemic forces of racism and immigration injustice. Part memoir, part journalism, part testimonio, The Undocumented Americans looks well beyond the flashpoints of the border or the activism of the Dreamers, and allows the individuals profiled to be seen more fully and felt more compassionately as vibrant, complex, and dignified human beings. In her relentlessly probing voice, Karla Cornejo Villaviencio combines sensitive reporting with her own experiences as an undocumented writer to show the love, magic, heartbreak, insanity, and vulgarity that infuse the day-to-day lives of housekeepers in Miami, Ground Zero cleanup workers in New York City, day laborers in Staten Island, families facing deportation in Ohio and Connecticut, and immigrants in Flint, Michigan who struggle to access life-saving clean water. Presenters Karla Cornejo Villavicencio  With the publication of her debut book, The Undocumented Americans, Cornejo Villavicencio became the first undocumented finalist for a National Book Award. She is a graduate of Harvard University and a doctoral candidate in the American Studies program at Yale. *Moderated by Reanne Frank | Professor, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University Melissa Rodriguez | Symposium event coordinator, LASER mentor, graduate student, Department of  Sociology, The Ohio State University Accessibility If you have questions or require an accommodation, such as live captioning or interpretation, to participate in these events, email Event Coordinator Melissa Rodriguez (rodriguez.796@osu.edu). Requests made two weeks before an individual event date will generally allow us to coordinate seamless access, but the university will make every attempt to meet requests made after this date.  Acknowledgments This event was funded by a grant from the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery theme. It is co-sponsored by the Latina/o Studies Program, Center for Folklore Studies, Urban Arts Space, Department of Sociology and Institute for Population Research. Zoom America/New_York public

Bringing the Border to Columbus Virtual Symposium
April 12-16, 2021

This event is a conversation with Karla Cornejo Villavicencio about her groundbreaking book The Undocumented Americans — a Barack Obama Favorite Book of 2020 and shortlisted for a National Book Award and a National Book Critics' Circle Award.

About The Undocumented Americans: At a time when the fabled American Dream is turning into a nightmare for so many, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s searing debut, The Undocumented Americans, is an incandescent and fearless indictment against the dark systemic forces of racism and immigration injustice. Part memoir, part journalism, part testimonio, The Undocumented Americans looks well beyond the flashpoints of the border or the activism of the Dreamers, and allows the individuals profiled to be seen more fully and felt more compassionately as vibrant, complex, and dignified human beings. In her relentlessly probing voice, Karla Cornejo Villaviencio combines sensitive reporting with her own experiences as an undocumented writer to show the love, magic, heartbreak, insanity, and vulgarity that infuse the day-to-day lives of housekeepers in Miami, Ground Zero cleanup workers in New York City, day laborers in Staten Island, families facing deportation in Ohio and Connecticut, and immigrants in Flint, Michigan who struggle to access life-saving clean water.

Presenters

  • Karla Cornejo Villavicencio 
    With the publication of her debut book, The Undocumented Americans, Cornejo Villavicencio became the first undocumented finalist for a National Book Award. She is a graduate of Harvard University and a doctoral candidate in the American Studies program at Yale.
  • *Moderated by Reanne Frank | Professor, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University
  • Melissa Rodriguez | Symposium event coordinator, LASER mentor, graduate student, Department of  Sociology, The Ohio State University

Accessibility

If you have questions or require an accommodation, such as live captioning or interpretation, to participate in these events, email Event Coordinator Melissa Rodriguez (rodriguez.796@osu.edu). Requests made two weeks before an individual event date will generally allow us to coordinate seamless access, but the university will make every attempt to meet requests made after this date. 

Acknowledgments

This event was funded by a grant from the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery theme. It is co-sponsored by the Latina/o Studies Program, Center for Folklore Studies, Urban Arts Space, Department of Sociology and Institute for Population Research.