In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, New Mexico State University’s Chicano Programs started its Latinx Heritage Month series of events on Thursday, Sept. 14.
“This series is based on what the students want to see,” said Rio López, director of Chicano Programs. “We sent a survey asking them what type of programming they are interested in. We want to bring in criticality, scholarship, academics and conversations that are very much needed.”
Chicano Programs welcomed Jazmine Janay Cuevas, critical race theorist and Afro-Chicanx studies researcher, to NMSU to deliver her talk, “A Transnational History of Afro-Chicanx Futures: Kinship in the Wake of the Nation-State.”
Cuevas is a teaching assistant in rhetoric and associate researcher for African diaspora at the University of Texas at El Paso, where she received her master’s degree in English and American literature. She discussed how she uses critical mixed-race theory to evaluate studies of Afro-Chicanx identities, and the multiple literature that represents the topic of Afro-Chicanx histories and futures.
“When you talk about Afro-Chicanx identities, it means talking about a lot of things, because not much exists on it,” Cuevas said. “When you think about these things, think about them critically, you are going to act and think differently.”
In her presentation, Cuevas introduced the work of Ariana Brown, a Black Mexican American poet, and Gloria Anzaldúa, a Chicana poet, and feminist and queer theorist. Through referencing Brown’s and Anzaldúa’s literature, Cuevas was able to explain the history and issues on the awareness of Afro-Chicanx identities.
“Not many people, from what I have experienced, are even aware that Black Mexicans exist, which they do,” she said. “It is a subject that is uncomfortable for most Mexican American communities. I hope some of these narratives are just spread and disseminated, and it makes people think about bias and talk to others about Black Mexicans and Black Mexican Americans.”
Alex Garcia, an NMSU student who attended the talk, said it was informative in transmitting that message of awareness.
“It addressed questions that I think are very important to ask and talk about, especially when there are a lot of cases and a lot of people who don’t want to talk about things that affect these different minority groups, in this case, Black Mexican Americans,” Garcia said. “Hopefully it will help and guide people to have a better understanding.”
López said these types of discussions are important to spark engagement but also to make it a sustained practice.
“Hopefully we can move beyond programming that is generic, and students are really connecting, relating and learning their own histories, and learning the complexities of certain issues,” López said. “She [Cuevas] gave a beautiful presentation. I really hope that it sheds some light on the vast diversity that the Latino population has at NMSU and that we are a Hispanic and minority-serving institution.”
Chicano Programs Latinx Heritage Month series will continue through Oct. 5, with a variety of events. For more information, visit the Chicano Programs website.
