EUGENE, Ore. -- (April 16, 2012) – A public reading of books banned in Arizona under a new state law prohibiting ethnic studies classes will be held May 1 by a coalition of groups from the University of Oregon and the Eugene community.
The Arizona law – which follows an immigration crackdown in that state – bans Chicano ethnic studies classes in primary and secondary schools, and legislators are now targeting the state university system.
Books banned under the new law include numeroustextbooks that teach U.S. history from a Mexican-American perspective, as well as literature ranging from William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” to Chilean author Isabel Allende’s “Zorro,” a 2005 prequel to pulp fiction stories about the Mexican-American hero that date back nearly 100 years.
The May 1 book reading will take place from noon to 2 p.m. at the UO’s EMU Amphitheater, at the corner of East 13th Avenue and University Street. A selection of the banned titles will also be available for purchase from the Duck Store during the event.
The readingis intended to show solidarity with the students and educators of Arizona, and to raise public consciousness about the issue.
The event is organized by the UO Department of Romance Languages and co-sponsored by the departments of English, Ethnic Studies and Comparative Literature; the Latin American Studies program; the College of Education’s Department of Education Studies; MEChA; and the Eugene Public Library.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.
MEDIA CONTACT:Joe Mosley, UO media relations, 541-346-3606, jmosley@uoregon.edu
SOURCE:David Wacks, head of the UO Department of Romance Languages, 541-346-0950, wacks@uoregon.edu
Note: The University of Oregon is equipped with an on-campus television studio with satellite uplink capacity, and a radio studio with an ISDN phone line for broadcast-quality radio interviews.