Arizona State Provost to Examine Mexican Migration in CSAW Lecture at WT

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, [email protected]

CANYON, Texas - The journey of Mexican and Mexican American families across the Plains will be explored in an upcoming lecture sponsored by West Texas A&M University's Center for the Study of the American West.

Dr. Vanessa Fonseca-Chávez, associate professor of English and assistant vice provost of the Arizona State University Polytechnic campus, will present "Tracks Across the Plains: Mexican Migration in Labor in Northwestern Kansas" at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 in the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall on WT's Canyon campus.

Admission is free.

Fonseca-Chávez's presentation relies on literary and historical sources about the importance of the railroad to early 20th-century Mexican migration, as well as oral histories-including from her own family.

"I would say that I would never describe my family as a Plains family, even though my grandfather and grandmother grew up in Kansas and met there. And I'm curious about this-what were the conditions that led the Fonseca family to migrate from León, Guanajuato, to northwestern Kansas to a town, from what I can tell, never had a sizeable population of Mexican families?" Fonseca-Chávez said. "My grandfather lived in that region for 35 years before migrating to California and then to New Mexico. I'm just beginning to piece together this story, and I'm excited about sharing it with the Forgotten Fronteras community."

Fonseca-Chávez is an expert on Mexican/Latino family, community and agricultural migration in the greater Southwest, and her work on northwest Kansas broadens our Forgotten Frontera study area in important ways beyond the Southern Plains of Texas and New Mexico, said Dr. Alex Hunt, CSAW director, Regents Professor of English and Vincent-Haley Professor of Western Studies.

"Her research brings together literary, geographical, genealogical and historical methodologies, which speaks to the complexity of studying and documenting the Forgotten Frontera," Hunt said.

CSAW's Forgotten Frontera project began in 2018 as a series of community conversations, funded in part by a Humanities Texas grant. It was funded from 2022 to 2024 by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant.

For information, visit wtamu.edu/csaw or call 806-651-5238.

Promoting regional research is a key aim of the University's long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign, which is now winding down, has raised more than $175 million.

About West Texas A&M University

A Regional Research University, West Texas A&M University is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor's and master's degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 16 men's and women's athletics programs.

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