College of Letters & Science
What does it mean to display the Mexican flag, or any other national flag for that matter, on U.S. soil? That question is on many minds recently as the green, white, and red banner flies over demonstrations in Los Angeles and elsewhere against Federal immigration enforcement actions. In a June 11th television interview with Telemundo …
As part of an issue focused on immigration in Wisconsin, the Daily Cardinal highlighted the teaching and research of Michael Light. A Professor of Sociology and Chican@ & Latin@ Studies, Light has been teaching the class “Immigration, Crime, and Enforcement” since he arrived on campus in 2017. As the Cardinal notes, the class is consistently full and …
CLS Director Theresa Delgadillo was awarded the Chancellor’s Inclusive Excellence Award for teaching in Spring 2025. A recent announcement by the University lists her among recipients of this year’s Distinguished Teaching Awards. The announcement notes that Prof. Delgadillo encourages students to participate in class, reminding them… … to push past assumptions, test evidence and consider …
On Wednesday, February 26th, journalist Carlos Dávalos and morning talk host Tony Castañeda interviewed artists Malaquías Montoya and Dewey Tafoya about the connection between art and political struggle. The interview is available online. Montoya and Tafoya will present on the topic on March 13th as part of the CLS 2024-2025 “Latinx Studies in the Midwest …
Reggaetón songs introducing millions to Puerto Rican history? A UW–Madison professor collaborating with an internationally recognized popular music star? Yes, and yes! Jorell Meléndez Badillo, a CLS affiliate faculty member in the History Department, recently created seventeen brief Spanish-language synopses of important moments in the island’s history from 1508 to the present that now accompany …
Is there such a thing as “the Latinx Vote?” In the wake of the 2024 election, pundits have been focusing on an apparent shift from Democrats to Republicans by voters of Latin American descent. Former CLS Director Armando Ibarra thinks that abstractions like “The Latinx Vote” may keep us from understanding what’s really going on …
When the New York Times’s Jazmine Ulloa needed background for a story on the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), she turned to UW–Madison’s Benjamin Márquez. The Times noted that LULAC, the country’s oldest Latina/o civil rights organization, had never made an endorsement in a Presidential election until 2024, when it endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris. …
Wisconsin Public Radio recently spoke with CLS faculty member Armando Ibarra about the economic contributions of immigrants, documented and undocumented in Wisconsin. The interview aired November 5th. The occasion for the story was a new report by the New York-based nonprofit Upwardly Global that credits authorized migrants with revitalizing rural communities Great Lakes region. Among …
A joke about Puerto Rico at a Trump campaign rally this past Sunday has left many Puerto Ricans feeling insulted and has focused national attention on the archipelago and its diaspora. To help sort the implications of the incident and place it in context, WPR’s Wisconsin Today turned to Aurora Santiago Ortiz, assistant professor of …
Curious about the constitutional amendment referendum on the ballot for the November 5th election? CLS faculty can help. This week, CLS affiliate professor Ben Márquez joined host Chali Pittman and guest John Nichols on the Tuesday edition of WORT radio’s “A Public Affair” to discuss the proposed change, which would amend Section 1 of Article …