TAMIU Professor Named Finalist in Latino Book Awards for her Book, ‘Listening to Laredo: A Border City in a Globalized Age’
Longtime Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) professor of Public Administration and author Dr. Mehnaaz Momen has been selected as a finalist in the “Best Academic Themed Book, College Level – English Category by the International Latino Book Awards for her book Listening to Laredo: A Border City in a Globalized Age, The University of Arizona Press.
In her book, Dr. Momen traces Laredo’s history while examining the city's ever-changing economic and cultural infrastructure. Through critical examination, she focuses on the existing interdependence on a sister city across a national boundary and the resilience of a border community that thrives amidst the ever-present challenges of a national narrative centered along the U.S. – México border.
Momen, who moved to Laredo in 2002 after receiving a job offer from TAMIU, was enthralled by the city's historic feel and rich heritage and wanted her book to provide readers a look at Laredo through the eyes of those who lived there.
“I want my readers to see Laredo from the eyes of the people who live there by choice. We always hear about the dangers of the border, but the border is fragile, the border is beautiful, and the border is evolving. The border is full of possibilities, especially because it is always a little wild. For the people who live on the border, it was historically an abstract notion that had legal and political restrictions -- but did not obstruct cultural and economic exchanges,” Momen explained.
The 26th Annual International Latino Book Awards ceremony will be held October 19, 2024, on the campus of Los Angeles City College and hosted by the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Empowering Latino Futures. It has honored over 3,000 books through the International Latino Book Awards since its founding in 1997. This year, Empowering Latino Futures received a 38 percent increase in entries over the previous record high. The nonprofit recruited 239 judges to review books in 105 categories.
To date, Empowering Latino Futures has held 74 Latino Book & Family Festivals around the USA with its Latino Book & Family Festivals. It has honored over 3,000 books with the International Latino Book Awards and provided 245,000 books to underserved youth with its Education Begins in the Home program, started in 2015. It has served 182,500 youth with its National Latino & American Indian Scholarship Directory; as well as its Latino Books into Movies Awards that has honored 199 books and scripts.
This year’s partners for the Book Festival include AARP California, Amazon Literary Partnership, Google Transformation Tech, Independent Book Publishers Association, Lantia, Las Comadres, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Community College District, MAAC, MiraCosta College, Molina Healthcare, Sacramento City College, Sacramento Progressive Communities, San Diego County, and TrueCare.
To learn more about the Awards and the Ceremony, visit www.LatinoBookAwards.org
Dr. Momen was recently awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award to Canada for the 2024-2025 academic year by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. She is currently the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Digitization and Democracy, and based in McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
She holds a Master of Social Sciences from the University of Dhaka and a Master of Public Administration from Dalhousie University. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy from Cleveland State University. Her research interests include citizenship, immigration policy, urban theory, public space, political satire, and marginality.
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