About Secret History

Commentary on Latin America.
Mostly about Mexico - but not always.
Designed to encourage readers to learn about
the apparently "secret history" of 500 million people
spread across two continents
- but not always.
You can always count on a little snark.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Historians, Stay Out of Arizona

One of the largest history conferences for Latin Americanists in the United States is the Rocky Mountain Conference of Latin American Studies (RMCLAS) held anywhere in the Mountain West between Montana and Arizona. Last year Santa Fe, this year Boulder, next year, Park City. But in years past Flagstaff and Tucson have been very popular locations for the conference (the Bill Beezley folks out of Tucson do a great job of organizing, same with the NAU folks). However, if Arizona signs and maintains the racial profiling law, RMCLAS needs to follow the example of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) and resort to the boycott. Since 2006 (or somewhere in there) LASA has boycotted the United States for regressive policies regarding visas for scholars from outside the US.

Perhaps it is time for the hundreds of members of RMCLAS to vote with their feet and wallets regarding Arizona.

1 comment:

El Aguila said...

Great, more travel time for me, ugh. I should have stayed in Texas. Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. The power of the purse manda.