Latin American Studies at CNM

The LAII started a partnership with Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) in 2014 to strengthen the relationship and leverage resources between the UNM and CNM Latin American Studies programs. Housed within the CNM School of Communication, Humanities & Social Sciences (CHSS), the LAS program provides students with an interdisciplinary foundation for understanding the Latin American region through cultural anthropology, history, geography, language, and literature, among other disciplines. Students gain language skills and area competencies valuable in business, public service, and/or further training.

CNM students who seek to continue their Latin American Studies at UNM receive coordinated advisement from staff in each program, largely supported by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant (“NM Humanities Now!”) awarded to UNM and CNM in 2019. During the 2021-2022 academic year, LAII worked closely with Dr. Brandon Morgan, who serves as the chairperson of Latin American Studies, as well as History, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Political Science, and Economics, and Dr. Jessica Craig, who is a faculty member is the Anthropology Department.

The Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) grant has allowed us to strengthen our collaborations with CNM. During the 2021-2022 academic year, UISFL funds were used to support the professional development of two CNM professors in the fields of History and Sociology who attended the Rocky Mountain Council on Latin American Studies conference in Las Cruces, NM, on April 6-9, 2022. Three general education courses (ANTH 1155: “Linguistic Anthropology,” HIST 1120: “US History II,” and GEOG 1110: “Intro to Physical Geography”) were enhanced to include 25% of Latin American content.

We continued to organize and co-sponsor events that promote careers in areas of national need and international service among CNM and UNM students. These career events featured UNM alumni and people working with the US/ Department of State, Peace Corps, NGOs, and the international business sector. Topics of such events included the following: “Peace Corps: How to Apply, What to Expect, and How the Experience Can Lead to Future Success” (October 2021), “Working at the U.S. Department of State: The Foreign Service and Other Opportunities” (November 2021), “The Path to an International Non-Profit Career” (January 2022), “Working in International Business in New Mexico: Breaking into the Sector, What Opportunities Exist and What Does Career Growth Look?” (March 2022), “International Opportunities after UNM” (March 2022), and “Working with Refugees” (April 2022).

CNM•UNM LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES LECTURE SERIES

As part of the effort to bridge the programs at each campus, the LAII regularly coordinates the CNM-UNM LAS Speaker Series, in collaboration with the Humanities Now! Mellon project. As part of the effort to bridge the programs at each campus, the LAII regularly coordinates the CNM-UNM LAS Speaker Series, in collaboration with the Humanities Now! Mellon project. The series features faculty and graduate students from UNM who are invited to present on their research and experiences as Latin Americanist scholars. In 2021-2022, the following speakers spoke to the CNM community:

• Ronda Brulotte, LAS Director and Associate Professor, Geography & Environmental Studies, “Oaxacan Mezcal in the

Global Craft Economy” • Beau Murphy, Ph.D. candidate, Anthropology, “Architectural Layout and Inka Imperial Tactics in Northern Chile (AD 1400-1532)” • Laura Belmonte, Assistant Professor, Chicana and Chicano Studies, “Representations of Resistance to State-

Sanctioned Violence at the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands in Literature, Art, and Film” • Alejandra Acuña Balbuena, MALAS student, “Research in Latin America During the Pandemic: How to Accept and

Adapt to Changing Circumstances” • Joselin Castillo, MALAS student, “Central American Women in the Workforce”

With the generous support of an Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language grant (UISFL) in partnership with the LAII, CNM Instructors Jessica Craig and Brandon Morgan traveled to Mexico City to investigate the logistics for a future Study Abroad program for CNM students. They were there from July 5 through 12, and they visited several sites with deep historic, archaeological, and cultural significance.

The partnership with the LAII supported CNM’s first Latin American Studies program abroad in May 2018 when Craig and Morgan led 10 students to Antigua, Guatemala. They are preparing to repeat that program in 2023 and plan to launch the first Mexico City trip with students in 2024. The summer trip to Mexico City will be invaluable for planning the 2024 Study Abroad program.

The goal of this trip was to investigate a diverse range of potential activities in and around Mexico City such that Craig and Morgan could build an enriching and robust curriculum for the study abroad experience. They explored a number of museums, including the National Museum of Anthropology, the Monument to the Revolution, the National History Museum at Chapultepec Castle, and the Axolotl Museum. They experienced the rich prehistory of Mexico City by visiting the ruins at Teotihuacan, the Templo Mayor, and Tlatelolco. They visited the Instituto Mora to investigate potential spaces where they could provide lectures and other foundational content to the students on the trip. They also simply walked the city, exploring markets, parks, and neighborhoods where the group could stay.

As this program is geared toward CNM’s nontraditional student population, it is slated for a period of 9-10 days. Craig and Morgan considered the best ways to facilitate an immersive experience in a short timeframe. Based on the summer trip to Mexico City, the theme for the 2024 Study Abroad will be “Latin America’s Urban Spaces.” Both Craig and Morgan are looking forward to continuing the planning for this trip and to undertaking another program in Antigua in the interim.