Ronald Mize
Waldo Hall 315
2250 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
United States
Ron Mize is Professor in the School of Language, Culture, and Society and Coordinator of Ethnic Studies (2020-2021, 2023-2024). He previously taught International Relations, Sociology, Latino Studies, and Ethnic Studies at ITAM (Mexico City), Humboldt State University, Cornell University, University of Saint Francis-Fort Wayne, California State University-San Marcos, University of California San Diego, Southwestern College, Colorado State University and University of Wisconsin Rock County. He was trained as a journalist at the University of Colorado Boulder and went on to study Sociology at Colorado State University (M.A.) and University of Wisconsin-Madison (Ph.D.). In 2016, he was the Fulbright-Garcia Robles Chair in U.S. Studies at el Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. From 2020-2022, he was the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
His scholarly research focuses on the historical origins of racial, class, and gender oppression in the lives of Mexicano/as and Latina/os residing in the United States. Due to the reliance on Mexican labor in the rural industries of agriculture, mining, and railroad construction, his historical research explores the class, gender, and race formations of Anglo-Chicano relations as they relate to these sectors of rural spaces and the economy. He investigates the degree to which contemporary immigrant labor is informed by the history of Mexican incorporation into the rural United States. He is also committed to building Latinx studies within a comparative ethnic studies framework. He seeks to understand the underlying assumptions about nation, race, identity, gender and class in how the public forms our opinions about immigration and part of his effort is to carve out a new paradigm for understanding both the political economy and culture of immigration as well as their interconnections.
Professor Mize is the author of over 50 scholarly publications, including LATINA/O STUDIES (2019, Polity Books), THE INVISIBLE WORKERS OF THE U.S.-MEXICO BRACERO PROGRAM: OBREROS OLVIDADOS (2016, Lexington Books), CONSUMING MEXICAN LABOR: FROM THE BRACERO PROGRAM TO NAFTA (2010, University of Toronto Press, with Alicia Swords), and LATINO IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES (2012, Polity Books, with Grace Peña Delgado). A more accessible discussion of his work is available from the ABC-CLIO series Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society.
Do the benefits to American society of immigration outweigh its costs?
On September 24, 2016, Professor Mize presented a report at the Stronger Together/Fuerza Unida conference commissioned by the Oregon Latino Agenda for Action on the status of Latino/a well-being in the state of Oregon. Thanks to OLAA for making the executive summary and full report available to the public. The report was updated in 2018 but subsequently interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. See the efforts of a collaborative team who worked to mitigate the impacts of COVID on Oregon's farmworkers.
Farmworker Justice Movements (ES 357)
Intro to Latinx/a/o-Chicanx/a/o Communities (ES 211)
Making Alliances and Solidarities (ES 270)
Intro to Ethnic Studies (ES 101)
Inventing Ethnic America (ES 201)
Grant Writing for Feminist Organizations (WGSS 518)
Critical Race Feminism (ES/WGSS 575)
Feminist Research Methods (WGSS 521)
In Fall 2016, as the Fulbright-Garcia Robles Chair in U.S. Studies at el Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, my students from ITAM participated in two types of group projects as part of the International Relations courses: Historia E.U.A. and Relaciones Norteamericanos. Students in U.S. history created a zine to further explore the themes of 1. Diplomacy, 2. War and Peace, 3. Civil and Human Rights, 4. Persecution, 5. Domestic Policy, and 6. American Culture that shape US history and contemporary realities.
Students in North American Relations (Canada, Mexico, and the United States) were able to select a commodity or service and trace its global value chain within a North American context of inequality and resistance. Students chose to analyze coffee, a Ford automobile assembly plant in Mexico City, Amazon.mx and e-commerce, the impact of the 2016 U.S. election, tomatoes, blue jeans, and corn tortillas.