Jason De León

press release: The Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Distinguished Lecture Series Committee fulfills its promise to challenge existing mindsets and invite diverse speakers to campus by bringing anthropologist and migration researcher Dr. Jason De León to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. 

In wake of stirring political events, such as the planned repeal of Deferred Action of Child Arrivals (DACA) and increased threats of deportation, Dr. De León's lecture offers an opportunity to see migration issues from immigrants' point of view. 

WUD Distinguished Lecture Series Director Ziyad Sultan hopes productive conversation will result from Dr. De León's visit. 

"Jason De León’s research provides powerful insight into the current state of migration from Latin America that is not currently part of the national conversation," Sultan said. 

Dr. De León is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan and director of the Undocumented Migration Project. This project focuses on what its organizers call the violent social processes of secret migration between Latin America and the United States. 

De León's lecture is part of Latinx Heritage Month. The lecture will take place Thursday, Oct.12th in Shannon Hall in Memorial Union. The one hour lecture begins at 7:30 p.m., followed by a 30-minute Q&A. This lecture is free for students and the public. 

The Distinguished Lecture Series Committee is run entirely by students and has challenged mindsets by bringing a spectrum of people and specialties to campus since 1987. To learn more about the committee and this year's lecture series, visit union.wisc.edu/dls.