U.S.-Mexico border. (Credit: Pixabay)
One of the most polarizing issues in the United States is about to get a fresh look through the eyes of artists, poets and even a YouTuber.
The CU BoulderĚýĚýdepartment andĚýĚýwill holdĚý, a new two-day event diving into “The Aesthetics of Migration” from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The event will be held on Nov. 9 at CU Boulder’sĚýĚýand Nov. 10ĚýĚýin Denver.
The free public event series is meant to foster cross cultural dialogues about human migration from Latin America. It will offer attendees a unique combination of academic research and artistic expression.
“It’s not just the scholarly presentation,” said John-Michael Rivera, director of the Program for Writing & Rhetoric. “It’s going to have multiple performances and video screenings and readings at one event so it moves through different types of trajectories and media.”
Who: Open to the public
What: CrossBorder "The Aesthetics of Migration"
When:Ěý3:45 p.m. Nov. 9 at Norlin Library | 6 p.m. Nov. 10 at
The Nov. 9 event at Norlin Library will open at 3:45 p.m. with a faculty panel featuring Rivera alongside scholars in Ethnic Studies, Geography, Theatre & Dance and Sociology. The next night at 6 p.m. in Counterpath will also have a local flair, with readings and performances by Denver youth writers and artists. Ěý Ěý
Visiting influencers like Mexican scholar Rafael PĂ©rez y PĂ©rez and Armando Ibañez will headline both nights. Ibañez’s online series Undocumented TalesĚýfollows the journey of a Mexican server living in Los Angeles with two secrets: He is living there illegally and he identifies as queer.Ěý
“We’re hoping that this is going to be something where we establish a network of Latinx writers and artists and lots of different folks who are interested in these particular topics, that then develop national and international programming,” Rivera said.
Rivera spearheaded the event with English Associate Professor Julie Carr. The pair already have their eyes set on crossing more physical and cultural borders in the future.Ěý
“I think we’re going to hopefully find the success of this particular event and just keep on developing it,” said Rivera. “The first goal is to locate and partner with networks who are engaging in these particular issues.”
With the help of a joint grant from CU Boulder’s English department and the Writing, Rhetoric, Information, Technology, Ecology Lab (), they’ve made plans to bring their idea to Mexico City’s Universidad AutĂłnoma Metropolitana in the spring.Ěý
Rivera’s team will work with PĂ©rez y PĂ©rez, an Universidad AutĂłnoma Metropolitana professor, to figure out what kind of programming will translate best at his institution. Ěý
“We don’t want to go into Mexico or Sudan or Central America to their university or their art space and say we want you to do this. We want to ask them what works for you,” said Rivera.
Beyond this year’s focus on migration from Latin America, CrossBorder will broaden its scope to multiple identities of immigration, including Muslim, Puritan and Anglo-Saxon migration.Ěý
To do this, Rivera hopes to build off this upcoming event to establish partnerships with other networks that are engaging in issues surrounding migration.
“The key thing is trying to set up cross-border discussions. If we talked for example about Sudanese migration, we’d then want to connect with Sudanese scholars and artists in Sudan to talk about those issues,” said Rivera. “Because we really want to get both sides of the border—of whatever border that may be.”
No matter how many countries the series reaches, it will always have roots in Boulder. Rivera and Carr envision CU Boulder as a hub for future dialogues and networking on migration. ĚýĚý
“There will always be an event here in Boulder,” Rivera said. “We want Boulder to be the place where this conversation materializes, but we want to Be Boulder everywhere and bring our discussions and our scholars and our artists here on campus who are doing really interesting work into other spaces where we have not been.”
