Representations of Latinos in the Media

An interesting presentation coming up in San Diego:

Textual Representations of the Border and Border Crossers: Constructing Latino Enemies in English Language Newspapers?

Ken Henriksen
Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies, University of Aarhus (Denmark); Visiting Scholar, Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, UCSD

Tuesday, May 27, 3:00 P.M.
Eleanor Roosevelt College Administration Building
Conference Room 115, First Floor
Reception to follow

In December 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act (H.R. 4437). This bill mandated the construction of seven hundred miles of “reinforced fencing” along the U.S.-Mexican border, and it proposed making illegal immigration a felony. Even though only the Secure Fence Act has been signed into law, the passing of the bill is a clear sign of a growing concern with the perceived threats of illegal immigration. The paper examines the discursive dimensions of these trends. The aim is to study recent representations of Latinos in the New York Times and to explore discursive changes in the wake of the passage of H.R. 4437. Current research suggests that dominant stereotypes in the United States have always portrayed Latinos as cultural—or criminal—Others. Drawing on this research, the paper explores to what extent the growing concern with national security and identity has engendered any changes in these representations. To what extent are illegal immigrants seen as a threat to national security and identity? What types of identities and Others are constructed in present day newspaper representations of Latinos?

Ken Henriksen is an Assistant Professor in Latin American Studies at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. Currently he is visiting scholar at the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS) and at the CCIS. His areas of Research include discourse analysis, ethnicity, democratization, human rights, state formation and transnationalism. His published work has focused on ethnic relations and democratization in Nicaragua, and on the discursive representation of Latinos in the U.S. His recent publications include: ‘El dilema colectivo de los pueblos miskitos de Nicaragua en los años 90. El caso de Tasbapauni’ (with Cristopher Kindblad), and ‘Ethnic Self-Regulation and Democratic Instability on Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast. The case of Ratisuna’. European Journal of Latin American Studies. He is the leading editor for the “Diálogos Latinoamericanos”, a biannual and trilingual journal published at the University of Aarhus.
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These seminars are open to all members of the UCSD community, as well as faculty and students from other universities and the general public. For directions to CCIS, visit our website. Parking permits can be purchased at the information booth on North Point Drive (north end of campus). Visitors may also use metered parking spaces (max. 2 hours) in the North side parking lot. Papers previously presented at CCIS seminars can also be downloaded from our website under “Working Papers.” For further information, please contact Ana Minvielle (E-mail: aminvielle@ucsd.edu, Tel#: 858-822-4447).

Center for Comparative Immigration Studies
9500 Gilman Drive
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0548

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