Novelist Cristina Henríquez speaks at UHCL about immigrant experience

Cristina Henríquez, book and magazine author, gave a talk titled “The Unknown Immigrant” Sept. 22 followed by a Q&A, reception and book signing.

Henríquez, who grew up half-American, half-Panamanian, will speak about identity and addresses common narratives about immigration. Henríquez is the author of “Come Together, Fall Apart,” a collection of stories published in various magazines including “The New Yorker,” “The World in Half,” and most recently her novel “The Book of Unknown Americans.”

Henríquez discussed the subject of immigrants in the U.S. and how people do not know about their backgrounds. She also talked about why there are immigrants in the U.S. and how conversations surrounding immigration are often over simplified and polarizing.

Henríquez’s book “The Book of Unknown Americans” is UHCL’s Common Reader choice for this year.

Wanalee Romero, director of the First-Year Seminar Program and faculty in humanities and Latino/a and Latin American Studies, said a committee made up of students, staff and faculty from all four colleges selected this year’s Common Reader. The goal is to stimulate intellectual conversation throughout the greater UHCL community, so the committee examines texts that will encourage readers to consider identity and points of view.

“So basically what the Common Reader Program is, is that we choose a book every year and throughout that year everyone on campus—staff, students, faculty—are all encouraged to read the same book, and we have conversations about it,” Romero said.

In writing “The Book of Unknown Americans,” Cristina Henríquez was inspired by her father’s Panamà-to-U.S. immigration story and other experiences of real people in Delaware, where she grew up. The book brings to life the varied human stories behind the ongoing debate about immigration through the eyes of characters from all over Latin America.

Jackie Rodriquez, literature major, states “The Book of Unknown Americans” is important because it reminds American readers that what is different from them is not always bad.

“People should read the text in order to open their cultural views up to that which may be foreign to them,” Rodriquez said. “They should read the text to experience a part of America they only hear about in political conversations or to connect to those that have had this experience.”

Rodriquez said there are many lessons that can be learned from this text, but there is one in particular she hopes that readers will take away.

“People who have brain trauma or any kind of disability are treated very similar to those immigrants,” Rodriquez said. “So many things were assumed about Maribel’s intelligence, what was best for her and even what she could achieve. This is something that happens to immigrant people as well, therefore I think that we, as a society, need to evaluate the way that we treat people who are not the same as us.”

Romero hopes what people learn from the event is to not be so quick to overgeneralize about who Latinas/Latinos are, to understand that everyone has a story/history and that there are a lot of things people can learn from one another as a community.

UHCL’s Common Reader Program will have more upcoming events this semester that are free and open to the public. Lupe Méndez, poet and educator, will explore dimensions of activism and citizenship in “Words on Education, Cultura, and Empowerment,” Sept. 27, at 3 p.m. in the Student Services and Classroom Building Lecture Hall. A film screening of “A Better Life,” will be held Oct. 8, 7 p.m., in the Student Services and Classroom Building Lecture Hall. Oscar Hernández of United We will lead a discussion of the DREAMer movement Nov. 9, 11 a.m. in the Bayou Building, Garden Room.

For more information about the Common Reader Program, visit http://newsroom.uhcl.edu/news/public-events-enhance-uh-clear-lake-common-reader-program or contact Romero at romero@uhcl.edu.