Newswise — In the coming weeks and months, Congress will debate the recently introduced Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. Advocates and opponents will hotly debate this first major immigration proposal in several years aimed at comprehensively overhauling our country’s immigration laws.
Members of the National Communication Association, who study rhetoric, grassroots campaigns, and immigration, can provide insight into the following:
•What are the rhetorical strategies employed by either side of the immigration debate?•How do advocates and opponents of immigration reform rely on caricatures or stereotypes to make their points??•What is the significance of using terms like “illegal” vs. “undocumented”?
WHO: J. David Cisneros, Ph.D.Department of Communication Studies, Northeastern UniversityDr. Cisneros specializes in issues of citizenship, race/ethnicity, Latina/o identity, and immigration. He has published studies on government rhetoric, political campaigns, and mass media about immigration and Latina/o communities as well as research examining the rhetorical strategies of grassroots, social protest movements and ethnic minorities. Karma Chávez, Ph.D.Department of Communication Arts, University of WisconsinDr. Chávez writes about immigration rights, justice activism, and rhetoric surrounding border militarization. Her forthcoming book, Queer Migration Politics (University of Illinois Press) examines activism at the intersection of LGBTQ and immigration, paying specific attention to the leadership of LGBTQ people in the immigration movement.
Lisa A. Flores, Ph.D.Department of Communication, University of ColoradoDr. Flores’s research interests include rhetoric, critical race studies and feminist theory. Her work on immigration examines historic narratives of immigrants and race.
CONTACT:To schedule an interview with an expert, please contact Arlyn G. Riskind at [email protected] or 202-534-1104.
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About National Communication AssociationThe National Communication Association (NCA) advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry. The NCA serves the scholars, teachers, and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching. Dedicated to fostering and promoting free and ethical communication, the NCA promotes the widespread appreciation of the importance of communication in public and private life, the application of competent communication to improve the quality of human life and relationships, and the use of knowledge about communication to solve human problems.
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