Winter 2023 Labor Speaker Series (+ Reception) | “Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA” Book Talk

Join Nadia Y. Kim, Associate Professor at Loyola Marymount, for a conversation about her book that examines race, class, gender, and citizenship with respect to the growing social phenomenon of marginalized and unauthorized immigrants – especially women and youth. The hybrid event will be held on March 1, 2023, from 3:30-5 PM with a reception held after the event from 5-6 PM.

“Refusing Death” examines race, class, gender and citizenship with respect to the growing social phenomenon of marginalized and unauthorized immigrants – especially women and youth – making political inroads by way of grassroots activism, at times, sidestepping the need for formal political channels. By way of nearly four years of ethnographic observation, in-depth interviews, and documents analysis of Asian American and Latin@ environmental justice activism in the industrial-port belt of Los Angeles, she finds that these mostly female immigrant activists view their work as much more than an effort to spare their children’s lungs from the gray plumes of cargo ships and oil refineries; they are also redefining notions of politics, community, and citizenship in the face of America’s nativist racism and its system of class injustice, defined by disproportionate pollution and neglected schools, surveillance/deportation, and political marginalization.

By inventively dovetailing all of these dimensions, the women show that they are highly conscious of how environmental and educational harms are an assault on their bodies and emotions; hence, they center embodied and affective strategies to uniquely challenge the neoliberal state’s neglect and betrayal and, ultimately, to refuse death.

Register for Zoom webinar HERE

RSVP for reception HERE