Professors Aldana, Johnson Join Campus Panel on the Book 'Solito'

On Jan. 27, a UC Davis Global Migration Center expert panel that included Professors Kevin R. Johnson and Raquel Aldana discussed Javier Zamora’s 2022 memoir Solito, the 2026 UC Davis Campus Community Book Project selection.

The panelists discussed the book, in which Zamora charts his solo journey as a 9-year-old from El Salvador to the United States, and how different disciplines approach complex issues regarding immigration in the U.S. 

Alex Russell reported on the panel discussion for UC Davis’ College of Letters & Sciences.

Raquel E. Aldana joined UC Davis in 2017 to serve as the inaugural Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity and returned to full-time law teaching in 2020. Aldana’s research has focused on transitional justice, criminal justice reforms and sustainable development in Latin America, as well as immigrant rights. She has authored or edited five books and published over 30 law review articles or book chapters. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and Harvard Law School.

Kevin R. Johnson is a distinguished professor of law, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law. Johnson is the director of the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies and also has an appointment as professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He served as dean of UC Davis Law from 2008 to 2024.