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Ballí was born on April 21, 1976, in
Brownsville, Texas. She is the daughter of Antonia and Cristobal Balli, immigrants from Mexico. She has a fraternal twin, Celia and an older sister, Cristina. In the early 1980s, her family spent summers as migrant workers in California. They took long trips on
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that years of researching and writing about violence left her with post-traumatic stress. "The border, it’s a very lively place. It’s always remaking itself, but something about it feels like it’s changed permanently. The fear, the inability to literally move through space in the same way, the
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In 1998, Ballí was the co-recipient of the 1998 Arturo Islas Jr. Prize for overall academic excellence and the winner of the 1998 Robert M. Golden Medal for
Excellence in Humanities and Creative Arts. She graduated with honors in 1998, with a degree in American Studies and Spanish.
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as an assistant professor where she remained until 2014. She continued her work as an independent journalist while teaching and researching. Ballí has written for many publications including: Harper’s, including the 2012 story "Calderón’s War: The gruesome legacy of Mexico" and
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Ballí was a finalist in 2004 for the
Livingston Awards for Young Journalists and the John Bartlow Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism. In 2004, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists named her Emerging Journalist of the Year.
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In 2014, Ballí was a fellow at the Dart Center for
Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University. She was the Texas Institute of Letters’ 2015 Jesse H. Jones Dobie Paisano Fellow. At the time, she told the
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the way, visiting reservations and natural sites. Cristina Ballí described their father, who died in 1987 when
Cecilia was 11 years old, as "a cultural anthropologist, without an education."
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142:, where she received a Mellon minority undergraduate research grant and participated in the Irvine summer program for future doctoral students. Her thesis was on the
91:(born April 21, 1976) is an American journalist and anthropologist who writes about the borderlands of Texas, security and immigration. She is a writer-at-large for
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in
Houston, Texas. She was a 2002 Soros fellow and her 2009 dissertation was: “Murdered Women on the Border: Gender, Territory and Power in Ciudad Juárez.”
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as an independent journalist. She has been an assistant professor at the
University of Texas at Austin and was a staff writer at the
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In 2008, she was a distinguished finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award given by the
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inability to relate to family across the border in the same way — all that has changed," she said.
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in
Brownsville and graduated valedictorian in 1994. She spent several summers as a staff writer at
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She was currently a book about mariachis, an expansion of a piece she published in
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Ballí started the communications strategy firm
Culture Concepts LLC in 2018.
464:"Murdered Women on the Border: Gender, Territory and Power in Ciudad Juárez"
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The Fence: U.S.-Mexico Border
Enforcement in the Age of National Security.
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620:"Writer Cecilia Ball gives voice to the grief of the borderlands ..."
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She interned in 1998 at the Washington, D.C., bureau of the
326:"Brownsville-born Writer Has Buit a Career Around Her Love"
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In 2008, Ballí joined the anthropology department at the
355:. Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
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No Place for Children: Voices from Juvenile Detention.
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No Place for Children: Voices from Juvenile Detention.
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Cecilia Ballí's CV from University of Texas at Austin
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A profile of Cecilia Ballí in the Brownsville Herald
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Ballí was the first Latina writer-at-large for the
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223:Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
162:Ballí has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from
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240:Ballí wrote the introduction to the 2005 book
397:"Class of 1998 Firestone Medal winners: 6/98"
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375:"Students receive Galarza and Islas Prizes"
271:Ballí's photography and anthropology on PRI
573:"Two Cities, Two Countries, Common Ground"
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146:dance music scene and Tejano talk radio.
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733:21st-century American women journalists
598:"A Deadliners Event: Trauma Journalism"
449:"Meet the Fellows | Cecilia Ballí"
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138:Ballí did her undergraduate studies at
16:American journalist and anthropologist
743:University of Texas at Austin faculty
723:American academics of Mexican descent
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377:. Stanford New Service. 29 April 1998
228:Ballí was elected as a member of the
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328:. Brownsville Herald. 23 August 2004
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763:American writers of Mexican descent
494:"Twelve New Members Elected to TIL"
399:. Stanford University. 17 June 1998
301:. Agave Festival Marfa. 21 May 2019
571:Ballí, Cecilia (5 February 2018).
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728:21st-century American journalists
688:Ballí's work at Harper's Magazine
276:Profile of Ballí in the Statesman
622:The Statesman. 4 September 2016
550:"Cecilia Ballí: Calderón's war"
548:Ballí, Cecilia (January 2012).
429:. University of Texas at Austin
718:People from Brownsville, Texas
600:. Dart Center. 28 January 2014
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738:21st-century American writers
520:. University of Texas Press.
188:University of Texas at Austin
514:Liss, Steve (January 2005).
97:, and has been published in
462:Ballí, Cecilia (May 2009).
254:The New York Times Magazine
194:The New York Times Magazine
108:The New York Times Magazine
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748:Stanford University alumni
498:Texas Institute of Letters
230:Texas Institute of Letters
119:Early life & education
758:American women academics
680:Cecilia Ballí's work at
260:See also/Further reading
246:Her forthcoming book is
113:San Antonio Express-News
129:Homer Hanna High School
127:Cecilia Ballí attended
753:Rice University alumni
642:"Cecilia Ballí, Ph.D."
133:The Brownsville Herald
517:No Place for Children
353:"Cecilia Ballí, 2002"
55:Journalist, professor
552:. Harper's Magazine
213:Honors & awards
140:Stanford University
115:from 1998 to 2000.
64:Stanford University
577:The New York Times
424:"Cecilia Balli CV"
45:Brownsville, Texas
469:. Rice University
156:Los Angeles Times
101:Harper’s Magazine
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82:Non-fiction
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52:Occupation
35:1976-04-21
232:in 2024.
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60:Education
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170:Career
144:Tejano
47:, U.S.
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