NMSU Borderlands and Ethnic Studies department to unveil new research center

Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
Published: 27 February 2024 27 February 2024

The Department of Borderlands and Ethnic Studies at New Mexico State University will showcase its new research center as part of Research and Creativity Week at NMSU.

Faculty members from the department known as BEST will come together Wednesday, Feb. 28, to unveil their new center and discuss several current projects that highlight their mission to decolonize research. The event begins at 10 a.m. in the BEST offices on the second floor of Garcia Center. 



“The BEST Research Center uses decolonial frameworks as its foundation to prioritize and empower marginalized communities,” said Dulcinea Lara, BEST department head. “It will contribute to research and scholarship in the field of social justice and advocate for inclusive and equitable research environments.”

Established in 2019, BEST provides programs in relational ethnic studies, Native American studies, Chicana/Chicano studies, decolonial research and Palestine studies, and equitable research environments. It offers three undergraduate minors and two graduate certificates. 

Manal Hamzeh, professor and director of the BEST Research Center, will deliver opening remarks at the showcase event. Yoshi Iwasaki, dean of the College of Health, Education and Social Transformation, will also speak.

“We will showcase BEST’s research projects as the foundation of our new research center. We envision it as a hub of creativity, forward-thinking and sustainable practices that foster ethnic studies and place-based learning for all New Mexicans,” Hamzeh said. “It is exciting to be part of the beginnings of BEST’s Research Center at a moment when the College of HEST is building a new culture of research propelled by a vision of social transformation.”

Through its projects, the BEST Research Center aim to raise awareness of New Mexico’s multiethnic communities through communication and collaboration, with the goal of healing racialized oppression, discrimination and epistemicide, Lara said. 

BEST projects are based on intentional collaborations with communities, whether they are faculty across other colleges, high school and college students, pre-service and in-service teachers, or policymakers, Hamzeh added.

“At the BEST Research Center, we are guided by a critical inquiry paradigm that values ‘colonized’ peoples’ knowledges and embodies relationality, deep trust, radical love and desire for harmony,” said Hamzeh, who teaches courses in the new Decolonial Research Methodologies graduate certificate and two new Palestine studies courses. “We are committed to co-creating knowledges grounded in place-based histories and context and imagining approaches to research without epistemic violence, knowledge extraction and racial-colonial injustices.”

One BEST project, “Indigenizing Public Art at NMSU,” is a collaborative re-representation of Indigenous people and their cultures through public art on campus. Diego Medina, a member of the Piro-Manso-Tiwa tribe and NMSU alumnus, designed the first mural in a stairway that leads to the BEST offices in Garcia Center.

Other projects include the “Trotando Pasos Ajenos: Social Justice and Inequalities in the Borderlands” traveling exhibit developed by Lara and Nicholas Natividad, a professor of criminal justice at NMSU; a new film in the Peoples of New Mexico Film series; a mobile museum initiative; and several K-12 classroom resources and curricula.

The Feb. 28 event will conclude around noon with closing remarks from Lara. A reception with refreshments will follow. It is free and open to the public.

For more information about BEST, visit https://best.nmsu.edu/index.html. For more information about Research and Creativity Week, visit https://research.nmsu.edu/Other/RCW/index.html .

The full article can be seen at https://newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/nmsu-borderlands-and-ethnic-studies-department-to-unveil-new-research-center/s/72fd59b8-eb91-4670-b059-060ceacb4b39

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.