Event at UC San Diego to Examine Diaspora Communities along U.S.-Mexican Border

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Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla at the 2014 Mexico Moving Forward symposium.

Over the last 45 years, the number of people living outside their country of origin, known as diaspora, has almost tripled – from 76 million to more than 232 million. Many within diaspora communities around the world maintain active connections within their country of origin. The role of the Mexican diaspora in San Diego will be the center of a conference to be held from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., on Monday, Oct. 13 on the University of California, San Diego campus.

The conference, titled Symposium on the Mexican Diaspora in San Diego, is part of the International Diaspora Engagement Alliance’s Global Diaspora Week. The event is sponsored by the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME) and organized by the UC San Diego School of International Relations and Pacific Studies’ Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies. The symposium is free and open and will examine the dynamics of the San Diego region’s binational economy and the role of the Mexican diaspora in converting the border region into an engine for growth. In addition, there will be discussions on the economic, cultural, and political ties between San Diego and Oaxaca, one of the primary states of origin for Mexicans living in San Diego County.

“We are pleased to host this forum at UC San Diego, as our campus is key to the broader systemwide effort to increase ties to Mexico through the UC-Mexico Initiative,” said UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “We are honored to help strengthen and define the partnership between California and Mexico through student and faculty exchanges, celebration of our shared heritage and populations, and scholarly research that solves problems and advances knowledge on issues of mutual importance.”

Denise Moreno Ducheny, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies’ senior policy advisor, added “The increased collaboration in our binational region is helping create sustained, strategic and equal partnerships between the two countries that will address common issues and educate our next generation of leaders.”

Ducheny is a former California State Senator and was recently appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as a member of the board of directors of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission and the North American Development Bank.

Representatives from IME, the Mexican Consul General in San Diego, the U.S. Department of State, UC San Diego and Colegio de la Frontera Norte, as well as Ducheny and Khosla will be among the symposium’s attendees.

The Oct. 13 event at UC San Diego is one of 65 events that will take place around the world in participation of Global Diaspora Week, Oct. 12–18. The week of events is dedicated to diaspora communities and their contributions to global development and is hosted by the International Diaspora Engagement Alliance (IdEA), a non-partisan, non-profit organization managed via a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and Calvert Foundation.

For more information or to register for the Symposium on the Mexican Diaspora in San Diego, go to: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/international-diaspora-engagement-alliance-diaspora-tour-tickets-13137632011.