Monica Perales: Lenses into the Past Lecture at SMU

Source: "Elmore, Ruth Ann"
raelmore@mail.smu.edu

You are invited to the
Clements Center for Southwest Studies Brown Bag
Lecture Series
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
12 noon to 1 p.m

LENSES INTO THE PAST: RECOVERING THE HISTORY OF
MEXICAN AMERICAN WOMEN THROUGH FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY
IN SMELTERTOWN, TX 1915-1950

Monica Perales
Summerlee Foundation Research Fellow for the Study of Texas History,
2006-2007

Today there is little evidence of the Mexican community of Smeltertown, the now-extinct community that formed at the base of the American Smelting and Refining Company's copper smelter in El Paso, Texas.
Company and professional photographs locate Mexican Smeltertown and reveal the significant role that Mexican workers played in the daily operations of the plant. But because they focus on the smelter and the
work done there, these photographs reveal male-centered communities and spaces defined principally by work. Dr. Perales examines how personal family photographs help to illuminate how women in Smeltertown
articulated and defined meanings of community in their daily lives. Family snapshots reveal a more textured view of daily life in Mexican Smeltertown, and show a community, though marked by work at the
smelter, not solely defined by male labor. Instead, family photographs provide a window into the various relationships - relationships between family members, friends and neighbors; relationships with the company; with the schools and the Catholic Church - that helped to determine community boundaries, and illustrate how the women created their own spaces and communities within Smeltertown. Monica Perales is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Houston. She is spending the academic year with the Clements Center for Southwest Studies as a Summerlee Foundation Research Fellow for the Study of Texas History, completing her manuscript for publication.

In the Texana Room, DeGolyer Library (6404 Hilltop Ln. & McFarlin Blvd)
Bring your own brown bag lunch! For more information or if you need special
accommodations, please call 214-768-3684 or email swcenter@smu.edu.

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