Hispanic Heritage Month: Faculty Spotlight

Correa-Cabrera: "I define myself as Mexican because I was born and raised in Mexico and what it means to be Mexican… I mean it’s a lot of things. We have in Mexico, a particular history, we have a particular culture. That you know manifests itself in having certain type of food, listening to certain songs, and we become excited when we remember our history, periods of time that have made us who we are but, at the same time, Mexico is a very diverse country. I was born in the State of Mexico, I was raised, most of my life in Mexico City. I studied in the United States for my doctorate and I have lived in the United States for the past 20 years. So that has also helped me to value the place where I come from—my country, my traditions, my food, my songs, my language."

Correa-Cabrera: "Totally it has impacted my work completely. My areas of expertise are immigration in the United States, global migration, migration from the northern triangle to the U.S.-Mexico border. I consider myself as a border scholar. Always thinking about myself as somebody who is in the middle of the United States and Mexico, in this “third country” that is the U.S.-Mexico border, so my area of expertise is the U.S.-Mexico border and Mexico border relations and Mexican relations in general. The border is more than that, there were moments of fear, there were moments of anxiety, moments of sadness when you see a number of events taking place.

Border communities are in solidarity with the world in many ways. The border is a beautiful place. The border is a place of beautiful people; there in solidarity with those who need them the most. So, of the border communities, they are the ones that pay the highest price but do it very gladly. Though it's been an amazing journey along the border, an amazing journey to study immigration, and an amazing journey also because I understand it. I am Mexican and I am an American citizen now.”

Correa-Cabrera: “To be more open, because I suffered a lot for not being open. It took me a while to adapt to new realities, the complexity of the culture in a third country—I talk about the borderlands as a third country—being more open about what this society lives through. Because you come from your own background, from your own traditions, from your own culture, from your own country, and you go somewhere else, and it takes time to adapt because you're closed [off], because you think that the place where you are from has taught you everything and you feel like a stranger at the beginning, so if I had advice to give myself when I was younger, I would say, just open your eyes, this is going to be fantastic.”

Correa-Cabrera: “Compared to what previous generations had, we have a lot of opportunities. Even though we are underrepresented in many ways, even though there are some limitations of the system that put us in disadvantage, this is a time of opportunities, and we know the power we have. And we know that if we got here, it’s because we work harder than anybody else. It’s been difficult for Latinos in the United States to make a way in this society. Now, we are very powerful and we just have to understand that and we’ll fight for our rights, and this is the time to do it, and now there is more openness for inclusiveness, for diversity. You know different historical processes have happened very recently that have led to greater paths for diversity and inclusion that have happened in this country. So what I would tell everybody is we have to stop being fearful, we have to fight for our rights and now our voice matters more now than any other time.”