When University of Oregon anthropology professor Lynn Stephen traveled in 2006 to Oaxaca, Mexico, she arrived in the midst of a social uprising that turned out to be one of the most significant social movements in contemporary Mexico.

That experience provides the foundation for Stephen’s book “We Are the Face of Oaxaca: Testimony and Social Movements,” which will be launched during a free public event from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 12 in Knight Library’s Browsing Room, 1501 Kincaid St., Eugene.

Stephen, director of the university’s Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, subsequently gathered videos, audio interviews, tapes of radio broadcasts, and other testimonials about conditions that led to the uprising for a website she was planning. As her work progressed, she realized that she was witnessing what she describes as “a form of knowledge production that was fundamental to social movements and processes of participatory governance in indigenous and other communities.”

“We Are the Face of Oaxaca” is Duke University Press’s first book to integrate digital video and photographic content. Published both in print and as an e-book, it is supported by a Spanish- and English-language website, The Face of Oaxaca, which was created and hosted by the UO Libraries’ Digital Scholarship Center. The website is accessible through links in the e-book edition.

The book presentation will feature speakers involved in both the content and creation of the book, including Karen Estlund, head, Digital Scholarship Center, University of Oregon Libraries; Mauricio Magaña, Institute of American Cultures Postdoctoral Fellow in Chicano Studies, University of California, Los Angeles; Phil Scher, associate professor, UO Department of Anthropology; Gabriela Martinez, associate professor, UO School of Journalism and Communication; and Ramiro Aragon and Ruth Guzman, Oaxaca political asylees and human rights advocates.

The event is sponsored by the UO Department of Anthropology, UO Libraries, and Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies.

- by UO Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies