Name: Robert Alvarez
Title: Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies

Email:
oloberto@ucsd.edu
Campus Address:
Social Sciences Building (SSB) 223
Phone: (858) 534-1739

Education:

Ph.D. Stanford University, 1979
M.A. Anthropology, Stanford University , 1973
M.A., Anthropology, San Diego State University , 1972


Field of Expertise:

His research interests include the application of anthropology to practical problem solving especially regarding minority communities in the United States and their countries of origin. The ethics of conducting social science in such communities and the long range empowerment of local peoples is central to Alvarez's teaching and work. He has conducted community ethnography throughout the U.S. that focuses on formal education - especially the high incidence of minority high school dropout rates and emphasizes the social-cultural context of schooling. His work includes the continuing study of the settlement and long term accommodation immigrant communities along the California-Mexico Border. Currently, Dr. Alvarez has focused on Transnational markets and entrepreneurs by focusing on the ethnic fruit trade (primarily the chile and mango markets) between Mexico and the US . He has conducted research in Mexico (Chiapas, Baja California, the Western Pacific States) along the U.S. - Mexico Border, and participated in applied research and training in the southwest United States , Hawaii, Micronesia, and Marianas.

Region of Interest: U.S.-Mexico Border Region, Mexico, Western Hemisphere, Latinos in the United States

Media Interview Topics:
Robert Alvarez can provide commentary on national and regional identity in the US-Mexico Borderland; community ethnography along the border of California and Arizona, focusing on the settlement of early Mexican immigrants to the US and family accomodation for over three generations of time; transnational and global fruit industry in Mexico and the Western Hemisphere. He has conducted research on markets and entrepreneurs in the Mexican- US, chile, mango and lime export trade, and is currently investigating changes in Mexican agriculture as a result of global markets and trade; education focused on Latino/Chicano high school retention in the US-Mexico Borderlands.

Selected Publications:
Mangos, Chiles and Truckers: the Business of Transnationalism .  University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis 2006.

"The Transnational State and Empire: US Certification in the Mexican Mango and Persian Lime Industries" Human Organization V.65(1) 2006.