The UH Center for Mexican American Studies will host a conference commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.
The conference, entitled “War Along the Border: The Mexican Revolution and its impact on Tejano Communities” will take place Sept. 23-24 at the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library-Rockwell Pavilion.
The two day event will include guest scholars from around the state presenting essays written for the event. Topics range from immigrant’s experiences, discrimination of Mexicans by the Texas Rangers to the Mexican Revolution in an African-American context.
The event will serve to educate and discuss different angles of the aftermath caused by the Mexican Revolution, especially its impact on Texas communities.
“The Mexican Revolution is considered the largest social upheaval, the largest social conflict in any country in the Americas throughout the 20th century,” CMAS Associate Director Lorenzo Cano said. “The migration that follows and comes along during that revolution really made a big impact on places like Houston, San Antonio and other places.”
The conference speakers include several UH professors and previous visiting scholars.
The essays presented will then be used as chapters for a book project. The Center for Mexican American Studies currently has a publishing arrangement with Texas A&M Press.
“No one has ever done this before,” CMAS Director Tatcho Mindiola said.
Mindiola said that a hundred years ago when the Mexican Revolution was going on; Mexico appeared to be on the brink of collapse and there was a lot of violence on the border. Immigration was coming over and neither government seemed to be able to control it, and today it is still the same.
Cano said the similarities of the drug war and the Mexican Revolution will surely be a topic of the Q-and-A sessions, but will not be a subject of the presentations.
Cano said he hopes to see members of the community as well as students and faculty attend the conference.
The conference is free and open to the public.