News and Announcements
CSER’s Mae Ngai published a piece in The Economist, “America is a nation of immigrants with a history of exclusion,” as part of its series America at 250. Read it here!
CSER Professor Lori Flores’s recent book Awaiting Their Feast: Latinx Food Workers and Activism from World War II to COVID-19 (UNC Press, 2025) received an Honorable Mention from the Latin American Studies Association’s Howard F. Cline Book Prize in Mexican History! Read the announcement here.
Professor Mae Ngai has been recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the Association of Asian American Studies. View the announcement here!
CSER professor and accomplished journalist Ed Morales recently published a piece in The New York Times on the trombonist, singer, bandleader, composer and producer Willie Colón. Read it here!
CSER Writer-in-Residence was chosen as one of seven finalists for the inaugural Conjunctions Residency, Writers Helping Writers! Read the full announcement here.
CSER’s Mae Ngai was recently interviewed on Background Briefing abut immigration, on one year anniversary of the second Trump administration. Listen to it here.
CSER’s Mae Ngai was recently featured in a segment on Democracy Now! speaking about denaturalization and birthright citizenship. Watch it here!
Professor Mae Ngai was chosen as a Margaret Olivia Sage Scholar by the Russell Sage Foundation for 2026-2027. MOS scholars are nominated and selected by the foundation’s board of trustees on the basis of “outstanding career accomplishments.”
Professor Mae Ngai was named an honorary fellow of the American Society for Legal History, the highest honor the Society confers, which recognizes distinguished historians whose scholarship has shaped the broad discipline of legal history and influenced the work of others, at its annual meeting in Detroit in November 15.
CSER’s Shana Redmond received a Special Recognition Award from the ASCAP Foundation for the liner notes she authored for the Grammy-nominated album Paul Robeson–Voice of Freedom: His Complete Columbia, RCA, HMV, and Victor Recordings (Sony Classical, 2024)! The liner notes received the Paul Williams “Loved the Liner Notes” Award at the 56th annual ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards. Read the full announcement here.
CSER’s Encuent(r)os event featuring Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes was featured in a write-up in the Columbia Spectator! The event was organized by CSER prof. Angie Cruz on behalf of CSER, Aster(ix) Journal, and Casa Hispanica.
CSER’s Mae Ngai recently published a piece in The New York Review of Books titled, “The End of Asylum.” The second Trump administration has collapsed the distinction between political and economic migrants. Did it make sense to separate them to begin with?
CSER’s Writer-in-Residence, Marie Myung-Ok Lee, recently judged the 8th annual New American Voices Award hosted by Fall for the Book. Read the full announcement here!
As part of CSER’s new programming series, Encuent(r)os, the writer, director, and performer Naima Ramos Chapman facilitated a writing workshop for the CSER community. After the workshop, students of Encuent(r)os curator Angie Cruz (Julissa Hernandez Alejandre and Sophia Amalia Medina, pictured) interviewed Ramos Chapman at Casa Hispánica about their work. Encuent(r)os explores the diversity of Latinidad and Latinx Studies by putting scholars and artists into conversation.
CSER’s Mae Ngai was recently quoted in an article in Huff Post about denaturalization. Read it here.
The film and TV rights to CSER Prof. Mae Ngai’s 2010 book The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America have been acquired by Neurosphere Entertainment, which plans to develop the book into a historical drama. The Lucky Ones uncovers the story of the Tape family in post-gold rush, racially explosive San Francisco. Read the full announcement here.
CSER adjunct Ed Morales recently published an annotated playlist and obituary in honor of Nuyorican pianist and bandleader Eddie Palmieri in The New York Times. Morales previously invited Palmieri to speak at an event sponsored by CSER in 2022. Read it here!
CSER’s Sayantani DasGupta was featured in several major news outlets for her take on the controversial American Eagle ad featuring actress Sydney Sweeney. Professor DasGupta posted a viral TikTok analyzing and historicizing the ad based on her expertise.
Read the CNN article here: https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/02/entertainment/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-ad-dunkin-drama-cec
Watch the Anderson Cooper 360 segment here: https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/business/video/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-ad-digvid
Read the People article here: https://people.com/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-ad-explained-11781702
Read Professor DasGupta’s piece in MedPage Today here: https://www.medpagetoday.com/popmedicine/popmedicine/116839?trw=no
CSER Professor Manan Ahmed’s most recent book, Disrupted City: Walking the Pathways of Memory and History in Lahore, was longlisted for the 2025 Cundill History Prize. The prize, which is administered by McGill University in Montreal and awarded by a distinguished jury, is given annually to the book that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality, and broad appeal. Read the full announcement here.
CSER’s Lori Flores published an article in The Guardian titled “How US immigration raids hurt summer pleasures, from berries to barbecues.” Read it here!
