IHR names 2012 Distinguished Lecturer

Immigration has been at the center of a national debate which suggests that it is primarily a matter of protecting borders and controlling the entry of “aliens.” Other aspects of immigration are typically ignored; the question of who gets in and who we keep out generally remains overlooked. What about those would-be immigrants who try but never make it to the United States?

On Thursday, March 8, 2012, Coco Fusco, the 2012 IHR Distinguished Lecturer, will present “Migration Interrupted: Rights, Freedom, Opportunism, and the Controversy over U.S. Immigration Policy.” Fusco will speak on the other side of immigration—those who don’t make it to the U.S. because of interference by the U.S. government or their home government.

The lecture will take place at 5:30 p.m., at the Katzin Concert Hall on ASU’s Tempe campus. A reception will precede the event, starting at 4:30 p.m. The event, sponsored by the Institute for Humanities Research, is free and open to the public.

Fusco is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and the Director of Intermedia Initiatives at Parsons The New School for Design. She has performed, lectured, exhibited and curated around the world since 1988.

While “anchor baby” is usually a derogatory term referring to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants used to “anchor” the parents in the country, Fusco proudly describes herself as an “anchor baby.” Fusco’s Cuban mother came to the United States in 1954 and was deported shortly after Fusco was born, but Fusco’s U.S. citizenship allowed her and her mother to return to New York within a matter of weeks.

As she writes in her book “English is Broken Here,” her identification “as a child of diaspora, of the Cold War, of the Civil Rights movement, of the Black Caribbean, of Cuba, and of the United States” has informed her work as both a scholar and performance artist.  She combines electronic media and a variety of formats, from staged multi-media performances incorporating large scale projections and closed circuit television to live performances streamed to the internet that invite audiences to take part in a “chat room” and help chart the course of action.  Her work is meant to provoke commentary and dialogue; to illuminate the unexplored.

Fusco’s performances and videos, including “Operation Atropos,” “Bare Life Study #1,” and “A Room of One’s Own,” have been presented all over the world, including two Whitney Biennials (2008 and 1993), the Sydney Biennial, the London International Theatre Festival, and more. Her books include English is Broken Here: Notes on Cultural Fusion in the Americas (1995), The Bodies that Were Not Ours and Other Writings (2001) and A Field Guide for Female Interrogators (2008). 

Fusco received her B.A. in Semiotics from Brown University, her M.A. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in Art and Visual Culture from Middlesex University.

For tickets to the March 8th, 2012 IHR Distinguished Lecture by Coco Fusco: RSVP

If you have any questions about the event, please contact the IHR at 480-965-3000 or ihr@asu.edu.