Leo Chavez
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Leo Ralph Chavez, Ph.D., is an American anthropologist best known for his work in international migration, particularly among Latin American immigrants. His book, Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society (Wadsworth Publishing, 1998), which provides an ethnographic account of Mexican and Central American illegal immigrants in San Diego County, California, is widely used in cultural anthropology courses throughout the United States. His book "Covering Immigration: Popular Images and the Politics of the Nation" (UC Press, 2001) examines media repesentations of immigrations and and the nation. This provocative book gives a cultural history of the immigration issue in the United States since 1965, using popular magazine covers as a fascinating entry into a discussion of our attitudes toward one of the most volatile debates in the nation. Leo Chavez gathers and analyzes over seventy cover images from politically diverse magazines, including Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Business Week, The New Republic, The Nation, and American Heritage. He traces the connections between the social, legal, and economic conditions surrounding immigration and the diverse images through which it is portrayed. Covering Immigration suggests that media images not only reflect the national mood but also play a powerful role in shaping national discourse. Drawing on insights from anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies, this original and perceptive book raises new questions about the media's influence over the public's increasing fear of immigration.
Chavez is currently a Professor of Anthropology at University of California, Irvine, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on immigration, international migration, culture and visual images, and medical anthropology. At UC Irvine, he is also the Director of the Center for Research on Latinos in a Global Society (CRLGS).
