At a moment when immigration and citizenship are at the forefront of national political debates, please join the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West for a lively and important discussion about cultural and political responses to immigration. Our speaker is David Montejano, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies and Chair of the Center for Latino Policy Research at UC Berkeley. Prof. Montejano summarizes:
"In 2004, Harvard political scientist and former National Security Council Advisor Samuel P. Huntington warned in Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity (New York: Simon & Schuster) of the cultural and political threat posed by non-assimilating Mexican immigrants. According to Huntington, if such immigration remains unchecked, the United States will become a bifurcated nation with two languages and two cultures. As such, Huntington argues that salvation lies in a patriotic recommitment to “Anglo Protestantism,” the cultural core of the country. Professor David Montejano disassembles Huntington's logic and facts and concludes that Huntington's screed is another misguided example of 'intelligence failure.'"