Author Luis Alberto Urrea discusses the ongoing border crisis between America and Mexico. Photo from latimes.com
“The Devil’s Highway,” by Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Luis Alberto Urrea, tells the harrowing story of a group of Mexican immigrants and their journey across the Arizona desert.
Urrea discussed his life experiences and perspectives with the University of Rhode Island community during the annual Spring Humanities Festival. URI’s Center for the Humanities welcomed him last Thursday, April 8, after postponing the event from the spring 2020 semester due to COVID-19.
Urrea discussed his childhood and how he grew up in a California barrio, a predominantly Spanish-speaking community, with his parents who immigrated from Tijuana. He inherited his mother’s Irish-looking genes and struggled as an outcast in his neighborhood.
Because of this, reading became Urrea’s outlet, which then sparked his interest in writing.
“I spent a lot of my time in our sad little apartment reading,” he said. “Thank god for Tarzan comic books, Batman and Superman.”
While his mother encouraged him to consume English literature, Urrea’s father exposed him to the Spanish language. He described his home as “linguistic border patrol,” where he learned both Spanish and English over the years.
Urrea went on to be the first person in his family to attend college. He studied at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California San Diego. He explained that some of his greatest experiences involved writing with brilliant professors who revealed even more about Spanish and Mexican literature to him.
Urrea said that he would not be a writer today without the help of Ursula K. Le Guin, a fantasy and science-fiction author best known for her “Earthsea” series, who first bought and published his work.
“[Le Guin] guided me,” he said. “She started my career, and she was the presence that gave me wings in so many ways.”
He was then given the opportunity to teach at Harvard University, where he brought classroom communities together through writing. Urrea engaged with students on a personal level, especially diverse students studying writing.
According to Urrea, these parts of his background were pivotal in shaping him to be the writer that he is today. Although his parents never got to see him publish any work, he writes to make others feel represented.
“I thought, ‘If all of these people can tell these stories about all of these topics, I can make stories to represent all the parts of my history,’” he said.
Center for the Humanities Director Evelyn Sterne and a team of nine faculty members chose Urrea for this event because of his prominent work pertaining to border and immigration policies in the United States. Urrea is known for writing notable pieces of poetry, fiction and nonfiction literature.
Sterne said that Urrea seemed like a very exciting fit for the event as he could address current issues in America.
“He’ll be able to speak in a really authoritative way about the plight of undocumented workers as they cross the border trying to seek a better life,” she said. “He’s an expert, having researched and studied [the topic] and can demonstrate the broader importance of the humanities.”
At the end of the lecture, Urrea answered questions from the audience.
He stressed that his overarching message in his writing is that all of humanity must see one another as equals. He said that the border must be “redefined” to ease rampant tensions between the United States and Central American nations.
“We’re all migrants and immigrants here,” he said. “A lot of [solutions] start far from our border.”
Sterne thanked the College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of the Provost and the Honors Program for sponsoring and publicizing this event.
URI’s Center for the Humanities also presented two Humanities Excellence Awards during this event to one undergraduate and one graduate student who have made exceptional contributions to the subject. Anna Snyder and Elizabeth Foulke were acknowledged and honored for their work. To view a recording of this Spring Humanities Event, visit the URI College of Arts and Sciences Youtube channel.