The Central American men, women, and children currently making their way through Mexico toward the United States border has generated intense political debate. Historian Erik Ching and Sociologist Daniel Burridge will provide social, historical, and political context for understanding why Central American refugees and migrants are seeking refuge in the United States. 

Erik Ching is the author of a number of books on El Salvador, including Stories of Civil War in El Salvador: A Battle over Memory, Authoritarian El Salvador: Politics and the Making of the Military Regimes, 1880-1940, and, with Héctor Lindo-Fuentes, Modernizing Minds in El Salvador: Education Reform and the Cold War, 1960-1980. He is Professor of History at Furman University in South Carolina. 

Daniel Burridge has written extensively on social movements and democracy in Central America, including, with John Markoff, “Globalization and Social Movements in Latin America,” in the Oxford Handbook of Latin American Social Movements, and with Hector Perla and Salvador Marti i. Puig, “Central America’s Relations with the United States of America” in the Handbook of Central American Governance. He is currently completing his PhD in Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh.