Henry Lesperance Alvarez was born and raised in Mexico City. He arrived to the United States at the age of seventeen. From 2000-2002 he attended Palomar College where he initially served MECHA as secretary and later as vice-president. While at Palomar he also played soccer for the school’s team. Go Comets! 

Upon graduation Henry transferred and received in 2005 a BA in Philosophy and a minor in International Migration Studies from the University of California, San Diego. As an undergraduate at UCSD he was involved in MECHA and as staff for the quarterly newspaper Voz Fronteriza. During this time he also competed for UCSD at intercollegiate Cross Country and Track meets. Go Tritons! Furthermore, as an undergraduate Henry studied abroad for seven months in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he developed a strong interest in the country’s language and culture.  

In 2008 Henry graduated with a MA in Latin American Studies from the University of California, San Diego. His graduate training is broad and encompasses a number of fields such as Political Science, Anthropology and Sociology. Henry’s areas of interest are immigration, healthcare, race, inequality, globalization, religion, and consumption. 

As a graduate student, Henry was awarded a fellowship in the United States-Brazil Higher Education Consortium Project. This fellowship jointly funded by the United States and Brazilian governments encouraged a comparative understanding of cultural diversity, social inequality, and the pursuit of health in Brazil and the United States. This fellowship allowed him to attend classes for one semester at the prestigious Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil (UFBA) during (2006). Henry also received in 2007 an “Outstanding Graduate Student Award in the area of African Diaspora Studies.” This award was given in recognition of the documentary he produced called “Pomba Branca” (2007). “Pomba Branca” explores two of the most significant struggles and achievements of a poor urban community in the city of Salvador, state of Bahia, Brazil. That same year Henry was also awarded the “Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship,” by the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies at UCSD. This fellowship allowed him to study the language of Zapoteco in the city of Juchitan, Oaxaca, Mexico. Henry is fluent in both the Spanish and Portuguese language, and has a strong interest in continuing to learn Zapotec.

 PUBLICATIONS:

Cornelius, Wayne A., and Jessa M. Lewis, eds. Impacts of Border Enforcement on Mexican Migration, the View From Sending Communities. San Diego: Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, 2007. Chapter 4, Impacts of U.S. Immigration Policies on Migration Behavior—J. Fuentes, H. L'Esperance, R. Pérez, and C. White.

DOCUMENTARIES:

“Tlacuitapa: Land that Rests Behind Turbid Waters: Realities Behind a Migrant-Sending Community” (2005). Directed and produced by Henry L’Esperance. A documentary examining the economic and social impacts that emigration to the United States has on the rural community of Tlacuitapa in Los Altos, Jalisco, Mexico. The documentary traces the origins of emigration in the region, while it also captures the role that religion has on the lives of the peoples who migrate to the United States.

 “Pomba Branca: Dove” (2006). Directed and produced by Henry L’Esperance. Bairro da Paz is a shantytown on the outskirts of the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. “Pomba Branca” explores two of the most significant struggles and achievements of this community, the fight for settlement of Bairro da Paz and the fight for the construction of the community’s school—Escola Estadual Nossa Senhora da Paz.

 GRADUATE THESIS:  “American Cultural Hegemony and its Influence on Brazilians’ Decision to Travel to the United States.”

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS:

Guest Speaker at film series presented by the Committee of World Democracy, at University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 2007.  

First Conference on Ethnicity, Race, and Indigenous Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean, at the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 2008.                                         

Guest Speaker at Cine Club’s monthly multicultural film series, at Palomar College, San Marcos, 2008.

 TEACHING EXPERIENCE: Henry has worked as a teaching associate for the Departments of Linguistics and Latin American Studies at the University of California, San Diego and now he is teaching at Palomar College.