NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Staff Graduate student Leisy
Abrego presents her paper on the educational experiences
and expectations of immigrants and native-born Latinos.
By Kelly Rayburn and Christina Jenkins DAILY BRUIN
SENIOR STAFF [email protected]
[email protected]
Historians, sociologists and anthropologists met Tuesday to
discuss how their disciplines treat issues of race, ethnicity and
immigration.
At the second annual UCLA Interdisciplinary Conference on Race,
Ethnicity and Immigration, UCLA and UC Irvine professors and
graduate students touched on topics ranging from the dynamics of
Los Angeles gangs to the experience of Asian American actors and
U.S. patrol of the Mexican/American border.
During the keynote address UC Irvine professor Diego Vigil
presented his new book “A Rainbow of Gangs,” which
explores the impact on society of different ethnic gangs in Los
Angeles. Vigil ““ who said he was a “wannabe” gang
member growing up in L.A. in the 1960s ““ said one of the
central ideas in his book is the concept of “Multiple
Marginality.” He uses the idea to explain why so many young
people in L.A. ““ as many as 200,000 ““ are drawn to
street life.
Young, second-generation immigrants often go to school and take
classes taught in their second language, live in neighborhoods with
a heavy police force and have parents who work long hours. They are
marginalized on many levels and thus drawn to street life, Vigil
said.
After youths are drawn to the streets, sometimes there is no
going back, Vigil said. Their concept of what is normal behavior
forever changes, he said.
“The gangs do the parenting, the schooling and become the
police force,” he said.
The aim of the conference was to encourage academics to discuss
race, ethnicity, and immigration from different disciplinary
viewpoints, said Zulema Valdez, the moderator of the conference and
a member of the Department of Sociology.
“(These discussions), we hope, will propel knowledge
further,” Valdez said.
Presenting the paper which will complete her masters degree in
Sociology, Leisy Abrego was one of six graduate students who
delivered their findings at the UCLA Faculty Center.
Abrego’s paper focused on the unequal access of
undocumented students to higher education because they do not
qualify for financial aid from the government.
“Thoughts about their future are tied to their legal
status,” Abrego said, reporting that students who are born
outside of the US are deemed “international” students
and are charged tuition that can be ten times higher than that
expected from residents.
“AB 540 is only a partial solution,” Abrego
concluded, referring to a bill the state legislature passed in
January that allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition,
provided that they have resided in the state for three years.