Lynn Stephen
Founding CLLAS Director Publishes New Book on Elena Poniatowska
Faculty Publication
Founding Director and member of the CLLAS Executive Board, Lynn Stephen (Anthropology), has published a new book on Mexican intellectual and author, Elena Poniatowska.
From Duke University Press:
From covering the massacre of students at Tlatelolco in 1968 and the 1985 earthquake to the Zapatista rebellion in 1994 and the disappearance of forty-three students in 2014, Elena Poniatowska has been one of the most important chroniclers of Mexican social, cultural, and political life. In Stories That Make History, Lynn Stephen examines Poniatowska’s writing, activism, and political participation, using them as a lens through which to understand critical moments in contemporary Mexican history. In her crónicas—narrative journalism written in a literary style featuring firsthand testimonies—Poniatowska told the stories of Mexico’s most marginalized people. Throughout, Stephen shows how Poniatowska helped shape Mexican politics and forge a multigenerational political community committed to social justice. In so doing, she presents a biographical and intellectual history of one of Mexico’s most cherished writers and a unique history of modern Mexico.
https://www.dukeupress.edu/stories-that-make-history
Let Families and Communities Seek Asylum Together
Article by CLLAS Executive Board Member and Founding Director, Lynn Stephen
As of June 1, 2021, there were 1,306,772 backlogged cases in US Immigration Courts, with an average wait time of 938 days, or 2.56 years, according to the Syracuse University Trac immigration project. The nation with the largest number of cases is Guatemala, with 287,097, followed by Honduras, with 251,795. Among these pending immigration cases are a large number of asylum cases. What is asylum? Why would it take so long? Why would Guatemala and Honduras top the list? And can we rethink what asylum is?
To read more, please find this piece on Public Books.
The Migrant Caravan: From Honduras to Tijuana
Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies School of Global Policy and Strategy
University of California San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive # 0519
La Jolla, CA 92093-0519

This PDF is a recent report about the migrant caravan published by the Center for U.S.-Mexicana Studies, which granted permission for CLLAS to disseminate via our website.
The report talks about the conditions that produced the caravan in Central America, responses from civil society in Mexico and the U.S., explains what asylum is and how and why people seek it and some stories about asylees, and then political responses in Mexico to the caravan.
This report includes pieces by CLLAS founding director Lynn Stephen, Philip H. Knight Chair, Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences, Professor of Anthropology, and James Daria, a PhD student at University of Oregon in cultural anthropology and a previous CLLAS Graduate Student grantee and Faculty/Student Collaborative grantee.
See their articles on these pages:
- “The Northern Triangle of Central America: Violence, Displacement, and Refuge,” by James Daria / p. 4
- “The Response of Civil Society on Both Sides of the U.S.-Mexican Border,” by James Daria, Carolina Valdivia, and Abigail Thornton / p. 22
- “The Path to Legal Safety: A Mismatch between the Law and the Practice.” by Lynn Stephen and Teresita Rocha Jiménez / p. 32
Following on the 2018-19 AY visits by Judge Yassmin Barrios and Dana Frank (professor of history emerita, University of California, Santa Cruz), this report should be of particular interest to the CLLAS community of faculty, staff, students, and community members.
Led by new president Lynn Stephen, LASA forms an anti-harassment task force at annual meeting
A story in the May 29, 2018 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education discusses the new anti-harassment task force of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) and quotes newly seated LASA president Lynn Stephen, University of Oregon professor of anthropology and founding director of CLLAS.
In the article “A Scholarly Group Had Avoided Talk of Harassment in Its Midst. Now It Seeks to ‘Start Anew,’” writer Nell Gluckman reports that Dr. Stephen announced the task force and policy at the annual meeting, which was attended last week by about 7,000 scholars and held in Barcelona. Stephen said that the group would look into harassment of all kinds, not just sexual harassment.
“We wanted to make a very strong statement,” Stephen said. “It’s not just a one-off for one year.”
For the full article, go to: Chronicle of Higher Education / LASA.
Latino Roots | Around the O
June 27, 2017—Editor’s Note: Now live on the Home Page of the University of Oregon website, a feature story on the Latino Roots classes co-taught by CLLAS codirector Gabriela Martínez, and CLLAS founding director Lynn Stephen.
Latino Roots, Oregon Branches
BY JASON STONE
“You come to college to take classes like this one.
“It’s part history, part sociology, part anthropology, part journalism and part documentary filmmaking, but it’s all about the experience. The 400-level Latino Roots course is an example of the many compelling, hands-on, educational opportunities we offer at the University of Oregon. With an eye on history and a hand in technology, this course combines the theoretical with the practical and empowers students to apply their new knowledge in the real world.
“An intensive, two-term, 20-week course, Latino Roots is offered every other academic year. During the first term, centered in a formal classroom setting, students learn about the history of racial identity formation in Oregon. Next, the class moves to the Cinema Studies Lab in Knight Library for hands-on training in the use of audio-video technology and editing software, as well as learning the art of documentary storytelling.”
For the full story, with video & photographs, go to: Latino Roots | Around the O
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