IONA lecture series
Where Arts & Sciences Meet Humanity
AN EVENING LECTURE & CONVERSATION Series
Welcoming immigrants in America: A historical backgrounder
Ivan Light, PHD
Thursday, September 25
7pm
wine and cheese reception following
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
In this Iona Lecture, sociologist Ivan Light will trace the history of anti-immigrant movements in the United States, asking the enduring question: Why reject immigrants? Drawing on two decades of research in immigration history at UCLA, he will examine recurring patterns of restriction, the social and political forces that fuel them, and the policy implications for our own time.
Ivan Light is a professor of sociology (emeritus) at UCLA. His professional research addressed the economic sociology of immigration, especially immigrant entrepreneurship. Major books are: Ethnic Enterprise in America, 1972; Immigrant Entrepreneurs, 1988; Ethnic Economies, 2000; Deflecting Immigration, 2006; Entrepreneurs and Capitalism since Luther, 2020. He is also the author of a historical novel, Deadly Secret of the Lusitania, 2015. He received the Distinguished Career award from the International Immigration Section of the American Sociological Association in 2000, and was president of the section in the following year.
