Laura E. Gómez, a leading expert on race, law and society, will be the featured speaker at an event presented by the CSUSB Libraries as part of Cal State San Bernardino’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.
Gómez will discuss her latest book, “Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism,” named one of the Best Books of 2020 by NPR, beginning at noon, Wednesday, Sept. 27, in the university’s John M. Pfau Library, room PL-5005.
The talk is free and open to the public. A question-and-answer session will follow her talk, and there will be a book signing session afterwards. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
“It’s wonderful that we are able to have Dr. Laura E. Gómez visit us in person, adding this important voice to CSUSB’s conversations during Hispanic Heritage Month, and supporting the CSUSB Libraries’ goal of providing content that represents issues relevant to our students,” said Rebecca Lubas, dean of CSUSB Libraries.
Gómez, the Rachel F. Moran Endowed Chair in Law at UCLA, received the 2021 Outstanding Scholar Award from the Fellows of the American Bar Association – one of the world’s most eminent independent organizations for empirical and interdisciplinary study of the law. Previous honorees include pioneering law scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw and the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
In 2002, she co-founded UCLA Law’s Critical Race Studies Program, and currently serves as its faculty director.
She has published numerous journal articles, book chapters and op-ed pieces. Her books include “Misconceiving Mothers: Legislators, Prosecutors, and the Politics of Prenatal Drug Exposure”; “Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race”; and “Mapping ‘Race’: Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research.”
Gómez earned a B.A. from Harvard and an M.A., J.D. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.
The talk is co-sponsored by Acto Latino, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Hispanic Heritage Month Planning Committee, and the Santos Manuel Student Union.
For more information, contact Robie Madrigal at rmadriga@csusb.edu or (909) 537-5104.
