• Fluid Borders: Using Collections to Center Personal Narratives

    Author(s):
    Stephanie Beene (see profile)
    Date:
    2023
    Group(s):
    ARLIS/NA Academic Library Division, Teaching SIG
    Subject(s):
    Archives, Libraries--Special collections, Photobooks, Exhibition catalogs, Academic libraries, Library outreach programs, Teaching
    Item Type:
    Presentation
    Meeting Title:
    Imaginando Arte y Arquitectura Mexicana/ Imagining Mexican Art & Architecture
    Meeting Org.:
    ARLIS/NA
    Meeting Loc.:
    Mexico City, Mexico
    Meeting Date:
    April 21, 2023
    Tag(s):
    2023 ARLIS/NA Conference
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/7se2-6031
    Abstract:
    The shared history between New Mexico and Mexico is one that stretches back eons. Indeed, the political boundary that separates the two entities on a map is one that is fluid, even though it has most recently been reinforced by the construction of a wall since the Trump presidency, and has endured increasing surveillance. Nevertheless, the peoples that have lived in the Borderlands have done so for millennia. At the University of New Mexico (UNM), a Hispanic-Serving Research 1 university, the majority of the student population identifies as Hispanic, Latine/x/o/a, and/or Indigenous and many of the students call the Borderlands home. Through four vignettes, I will discuss three projects undertaken as a collaboration with Dr. Suzanne Schadl, former Latin American Collections Curator and now the Library of Congress' Chief of Latin American, Caribbean, and European Division. These first three projects highlight New Mexico communities convening around UNM's unique and world-renowned distinctive Latin American collections, which include special collections, archives, and circulating collections. The first describes an interactive exhibition at the National Hispanic Cultural Museum, "Getting Up Pa'l Pueblo," which crowdsourced descriptions from visitors around the 75-piece Oaxacan street art poster collection, Asamblea de Artistas Revolucionarios de Oaxaca. The second and third vignettes build from the first, and discuss similar interactive, sensorial experiences centered around special collections, this time Mexican artists' books. The last vignette will discuss my use of exhibition catalogs and photobooks that center the border between New Mexico and Mexico, which I have used in library instruction sessions, to activate student learning and discussion. I will discuss the power of these collections to spark personal narratives, and how those narratives have, in turn, informed our understanding of our collections - for collection development, cataloging, and instruction.
    Notes:
    Panel organized and moderated by Elisabeth Narkin (co-panelists: Carla Ellard, Christine Hernández, Gwen Mayhew, Malia Van Heukelem) https://arlisna51stconference.sched.com/event/1Gfbu/imaginando-arte-y-arquitectura-mexicana-imagining-mexican-art-architecture
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 months ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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