Western New Mexico University hosted the Bi-National Indigenous Expo/Encuentro: Multi-Faced Expressions of Indigenous Cultures from Both Mexicos on June 15-17. The event, which was coordinated by the Division of External Affairs and open to both students and the public, was designed to acknowledge and better understand the historical and current experience of Indigenous cultures that define the borderlands region.
The Expo/Encuentro brought together members of the Chiricahua Apache Nation, whose ancestral lands span much of what is now southwest New Mexico as well as parts of Arizona, Chihuahua and Sonora, along with other Indigenous scholars, artists, and musicians. Featured participants included Hugo Morales (Mixtec), co-founder and executive producer of Radio Bilingüe, Andi Murphy (Diné), host of the Toasted Sister Podcast, Cayuga actor and musician Gary Farmer, Zapotec textile artist Porfirio Gutiérrez, WNMU Assistant Professor Melissa Teller (Diné) and the dance troupe Danza Azteca Naucuatli.
The keynote speakers were WNMU President Joseph Shepard and Lieutenant Governor Howie Morales, followed by a Chiricahua Apache blessing and land acknowledgement by Anthony Stewart (San Carlos Nde) and remarks from Dr. William Tooahyaysay Bradford (Tsoka Ne Nde Chiricahua) and Joe Saenz (Tchi He Nde Warm Springs Apache / Huichol). Speaking of the Chiricahua Nation’s effort to reestablish their presence in the borderlands region, Saenz explained, “Our effort now is to come back and through our prayer, through our songs, through our dances, through our instruction, through our knowledge that was passed down through our elders” to restore the land to health. “We are very glad that the university has given us [this] opportunity,” he added.
The focus on transcending borders was important to the organizers of the Expo. “We tend to think of national borders as borders of culture, art, language, and people,” said WNMU Vice President of External Affairs Magdaleno Manzanárez, who led the team that planned the event, “But that narrative misses the fact that Indigenous cultures and people have been migrating across thousands of miles on our joined continent for thousands of years. Our goal with this Expo—generously supported by New Mexico Senator Siah Correa Hemphill—is to expose people to this reality, and to offer our Indigenous and diverse youth the opportunity to connect to an authentic identity that is theirs, anchored in art, music, dance, storytelling, and discourse. We see this event as underscoring a critical reality that has been buried in the din of politics and nationalism.”
Lieutenant Gov. Morales expressed gratitude for the Expo, which he described as “an opportunity to come together to learn, to collaborate, to network and most importantly to recognize each other as human beings.” Said Morales, “Through education and an opportunity to connect, we celebrate each other’s cultures, we celebrate each other’s languages, customs, food [and] dances. That is the opportunity we have today: to celebrate every single one of our stories.”