
The University of New Mexico
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales 277-5920
cgonzal@unm.edu
Nov. 7, 2007
Public historian Yolanda Chavez Leyva will present “Voces del Segundo Barrio,” her oral history project in an El Paso, Texas neighborhood where Mexicans and Mexican Americans have resided for several generations, on Tuesday, Nov. 13, from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. in the Willard Reading Room in Zimmerman Library.
El Segundo Barrio is one of the oldest and most historic Mexican American neighborhoods in El Paso and the U.S. Leyva recovers history from both sides of the border and her work is especially significant because the neighborhood is currently being sought by developers who hope to remove the residents.
Chavez Leyva is associate professor of history at the University of Texas, El Paso. She is a public historian who specializes in U.S.-Mexico border, Chicana/o and public histories. In addition to sponsoring and developing community-based oral history projects, she has published numerous articles and booklets on these topics. She is completing her manuscript, “Calling the Ancestors: Chicana/o History, Pedagogy, and Healing.” She will be joined by UTEP history graduate students who are working with her.
This presentation is sponsored by the UNM Department of History, Latin American/Iberian Institute, Southwest Hispanic Research Institute and Native American Studies.
For more information, contact Jennifer Denetdale, history, UNM, 277-4138 or jdenet@unm.edu.
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