Define American: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant w/ Jose Antonio Vargas

Featuring Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and founder of Define American,  Jose Antonio Vargas. Vargas will discuss how American identity and citizenship are construed in culture and policy through the telling of his own story.

Vargas, the 2017-18 Wayne Morse Chair, is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and filmmaker. He is the founder of Define American, a nonprofit organization that uses storytelling to shift the conversation about immigration, and #EmergingUS, a multimedia startup for a new multi-ethnic, multiracial America.

In 2011, Vargas wrote an essay for the New York Times Magazine in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up story he wrote. He also wrote, produced, and directed Documented, an award-winning documentary on his experience. Vargas will be in residence at the Wayne Morse Center mid-October to mid-November 2017. His visit is in conjunction with the Wayne Morse Center's 2017-19 theme of inquiry, Borders, Migration, and Belonging.

Cosponsors include the UO Center for Student Involvement: BE Series, Cinema Studies, Oregon Humanities Center, Division of Equity and Inclusion, School of Journalism and Communication, Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, and Ethnic Studies.