131 - Dr. Natalia Molina, A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community

July 16, 2024 00:56:01
131 - Dr. Natalia Molina, A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community
History of California Podcast
131 - Dr. Natalia Molina, A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community

Jul 16 2024 | 00:56:01

/

Show Notes

Dr. Natalia Molina is a Distinguished Professor and Dean’s Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. Her influential research examines the interconnected histories of race, place, gender, culture, and citizenship. An award-winning author, teacher, and mentor, she has written three acclaimed books: How Race Is Made in America: Immigration, Citizenship, and the Historical Power of Racial Scripts; Fit to Be Citizens?: Public Health and Race in Los Angeles, 1879-1940; and, most recently, A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community. The Los Angeles Times called A Place at the Nayarit an “essential Los Angeles book.” It was a finalist for a James Beard Award and received 14 awards and honorable mentions from various organizations. The book chronicles the lives of immigrant workers, including Molina’s grandmother, who became placemakers, nurturing and feeding their communities at restaurants that served as urban anchors.

Professor Molina is currently working on a new book, The Silent Hands that Shaped the Huntington Library: A History of Its Immigrant Workers. Named a USC 2023 Communicator of the Year, she has written for the LA Times, Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, and elsewhere. In 2020, she was named a MacArthur Fellow.

Other Episodes

Episode

February 24, 2025 00:53:02
Episode Cover

151 - Steinbeck Book Club: The Pastures of Heaven with Dr. Susan Shillinglaw

I am so excited to share today’s episode with you. For those of you who follow my substack, you may know that I have...

Listen

Episode 0

May 09, 2021 00:57:05
Episode Cover

50 - H.W. Brands, California, the Gold Rush, and the West

Today, I am excited to bring you my conversation with H.W. Brands. Dr. Brands nearly needs no introduction. He is an American Historian that...

Listen

Episode

January 23, 2025 00:53:47
Episode Cover

147 - Rebecca John, Deceptive PR Strategy Pioneered in 1950s California to Hide Climate Change Risk

On today's show, we welcome Rebecca John. Rebecca is a Research Fellow at the Climate Investigations Center. She is also a freelance journalist and...

Listen