MORE ABOUT:  HINDA SEIF

While she works on her book manuscript on immigrant legislative politics in California, Hinda Seif has been conducting research with UIS students on Latina/o immigrant and 2nd generation youth activism.

With support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Seif wrote a report on Latino immigrant youth civic education and engagement. This was prepared for the Latino Migrant Civic and Political Participation Study of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute in Washington, D.C.: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=5949&fuseaction

Professor Seif, WGS Graduate Assistant Jimmy Peterson (2009-10), and students from the Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS) and the WGS Department have been interviewing Illinois youth who participated in the 2006 immigration reform protests. Our preliminary findings were presented in March, 2010 at the Society for Applied Anthropology 70th Annual Meeting in Mérida, Mexico with the theme of “Vulnerabilities and Exclusion in Globalization.” Along with serving as faculty advisor for the UIS Organization of Latin American Students, (OLAS), this research is helping to familiarize Seif with Latina/o and immigrant communities in Illinois.

Dr. Seif is also examining ethical issues involved in conducting research with undocumented immigrants for the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She is collaborating on this project with colleagues Bianet Castellanos and Katherine Fennelly (U. of Minnesota), Travis Dubry (University of California-Santa Barbara), Rodolfo Gutiérrez (HACER), and Lourdes Gutiérrez (Dartmouth College).

Forthcoming Publication (Selected):

• Book Chapter—“Tired of illegals”: Immigrant Driver’s Licenses, Constituent Letters, and Shifting Restrictionist Discourse in California. In State and Local Immigration Policy Activism in the U.S.: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Monica Varsanyi, ed., Stanford University Press.

Publications (Selected):

• “Wearing Union T-Shirts: Undocumented Women Farm Workers and Gendered Circuits of Political Power.” Latin American Perspectives, 2009.
• “Wise Up!” Undocumented (Im)migrant Youth, Latino Legislators, and the Struggle for Higher Education Access. Latino Studies 2(2):210-230, 2004. [Reprinted in Latinos and Citizenship: Dilemmas of Belonging, ed. Suzanne Oboler, Palgrave (2006)].