The AHC’s Alan K. Simpson Institute for Western Politics and Leadership is sponsoring a symposium on a highly topical matter – immigration. The event, “Where Are We Now? Immigration Policy and Its Impact from a Wyoming and a National Perspective,” will occur September 17 – 18, 2014 at the AHC and the UW Conference Center. The symposium will examine the complex nature and scope of immigration and discuss how immigration has impacted the social, economic, and political fabric of our state and nation.
Immigration touches on crucial issues of our changing work force, the role we want to play in the world, and our cultural identity. The discussion event on September 18, 2014 will, among other things, explore the themes of nationhood, citizenship, and belonging; values, and social otherness; borders; questions of social justice; individual, national, and cultural identities; and the ways in which people reinvent themselves, their cultures, and their worlds in new contexts, as well as the role language plays in controversial conversations such as assimilation and education.
Lovell group displaying U.S. and Mexican flags. Hugo G. Janssen Photographs, #11712, Box 2, Folder 5. University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center.
On a national and a state level, we will probe such basic questions as: how significant is the illegal alien situation? How has immigration historically been treated by established populations? Where is immigration having the largest impact? How important should economic need (of the immigrants and of the employers) be in discussing immigration issues? Do employers/established communities have an ethical obligation to provide affordable housing to immigrants, and if so how close to the job sites?
The event will bring to Wyoming leading voices in the national immigration conversation. The overall goal of the event is to raise awareness on the part of audience members, at UW, Wyoming, and elsewhere, about the variety of issues under the broad umbrella term of “immigration” at both a state and a national level. More specifically, at the state level, we hope to clarify issues for Wyoming’s congressional delegation and to assess what impact immigration will have on Wyoming’s future.
For the latest updates on this exciting event, as well as immigration-related news stories, please see our website at: ahc.uwyo.edu/symposium2014.
-Leslie Waggener, Simpson Institute Archivist
