From Boarding Schools to Sanctuary: The Presbyterian Church in the Southwest, 1888-1991
During the 1980s, Tucson, Arizona’s Southside Presbyterian Church defied immigration authorities, declaring their church a sanctuary. Eventually, over 150 churches added themselves to the Sanctuary Movement. But while the movement is the Presbyterian Church’s best-remembered contribution to the history of the Southwestern US, it was based on a long and outsized history of religious colonialism in the region. This paper traces the way that these pasts of dispossessing Indigenous and Hispano Southwesterners transformed into a liberal politics of aid for migrants, historicizing the present at a moment when both border policy and religious settler colonialism are key political and human concerns.
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This event is free, but all participants must register in advance. Space is limited, so please do not request a paper unless you plan to attend.
Register and Request PaperAbout the Borderlands and Latino/a Studies Seminar Series
This seminar provides a forum for works-in-progress that explore topics in Latino/a and Borderlands studies. The seminar’s coordinators are María Eugenia López-García (University of Illinois at Chicago), Ivón Padilla-Rodríguez (University of Illinois at Chicago), and Emiliano Aguilar (University of Notre Dame).