Dr. Karma Chávez is an associate professor in the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas - Austin. Her work at the university involves rhetorical practices of groups marginalized within existing power structures, as well as rhetoric produced by powerful institutions and actors about marginalized folks and the systems that oppress them. She is the author of Queer Migration Politics: Activist Rhetoric and Coalitional Possibilities, co-editor of Text + Field: Innovations in Rhetorical Method and Standing in the Intersection: Feminist Voices, Feminist Practices in Communication Studies, and has published multiple papers on communication, queer politics, and rhetoric.
Dr. Chávez will be visiting campus to discuss the rhetoric and current issues regarding immigrants and politics in her lecture, "The Rhetoric of Sanctuary, the Logic of the State."
Abstract: Leading up to and following the election of Donald Trump, allies of undocumented immigrants on college campuses and in progressive communities made or renewed their commitments to sanctuary. The idea of sanctuary, meant to protect the unauthorized from the overreach of the state, has gained significant traction, so much so that it became one of President Trump's initial targets in his first executive orders on immigration. This talk provides a close analysis of the rhetoric of sanctuary, particularly taking up the case of college campus policies, in order to investigate both why sanctuary is so popular among progressives and viewed as such a threat by conservatives. The paper shows how the rhetoric of sanctuary challenges and reinforces state logics and considers what alternatives to sanctuary undocumented people and their allies may consider and are already enacting.
Dr. Chávez will also be conducting a workshop for graduate students on Wednesday, March 28th in Denney 311. Please check back soon for more information!
This is a Corbett Lecture event, hosted by the Department of English.
