What are the connections between the #BlackLivesMatter movement and Black liberation struggles in Brazil? What can labor activists learn from the experiences of Latino/a immigrants and labor struggles in the U.S. South? What’s the significance of the permanent infrastructure of nearly 1,000 U.S. military bases overseas to the anti-war movement? Three politically-engaged anthropologists will share recently published books and lead a conversation about these and other questions while Minneapolis hosts the annual meeting of the world’s largest association of professional anthropologists. Ultimately, the authors hope this dialogue will identify and build connections between movements addressing the issues of race, immigration, and war.

Angela Stuesse will discuss Scratching Out a Living: Latinos, Race, and Work in the Deep South (University of California Press 2016). The book takes readers deep into Mississippi’s chicken processing plants to examine how Latino immigration has transformed the South and complicated worker organizing in one of the country’s lowest paid and most dangerous jobs. 

Christen A. Smith will discuss Afro-Paradise: Blackness, Violence and Performance in Brazil (University of Illinois Press 2016). The book examines Black Brazilians’ experiences with police and other forms of state violence and Black community responses, including the transnational dimensions of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. 

David Vine will discuss Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World (Metropolitan/Holt 2015), which exposes the damaging effects of the global network of some 800 U.S. military bases overseas.