SW New Mexico News

Since its establishment in 2022, the Borderlands and Ethnic Studies Department (BEST) at New Mexico State University has been encouraging students to explore their identities, communities, and environments. The department offers courses across five fields, aiming to provide comprehensive histories of various peoples and places on both local and global scales.

Currently part of the College of Health, Education, and Social Transformation (HEST), BEST is expanding its range of programs which include relational ethnic studies, Native American studies, Chicana/Chicano studies, decolonial research, and Palestine studies. It provides three undergraduate minors and one graduate certificate.

The Chicana/Chicano studies program saw strong enrollments during the 2023-2024 academic year with participation from students across all colleges. Additionally, BEST faculty are developing further graduate programs in Chicana/Chicano studies and Palestine studies. In 2024, the department received $170,000 in federal funding secured by New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich to continue a research initiative focused on creating culturally inclusive social studies curricula for K-12 students in New Mexico.

“BEST has experienced incredible growth over the past five years,” stated Dulcinea Lara, head of the BEST department. “Our dedicated faculty members have developed programs and courses that allow students to understand and navigate a complex and changing world steeped in constructs of race, gender, class, sexual orientation and other areas.”

Central to this growth is the newly established BEST Research Center unveiled in February 2024 during Research and Creativity Week. The center employs decolonial frameworks to prioritize marginalized communities' histories and experiences. Lara anticipates that it will become a focal point for research in social justice while promoting inclusive research environments.

“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,” said Manal Hamzeh, professor at BEST and director of the research center. “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.”

The center aims to highlight New Mexico's multiethnic communities through communication efforts designed to address racial oppression and discrimination. Hamzeh noted that projects are formed through collaborations with faculty from different colleges as well as high school teachers, college students, pre-service teachers, policymakers.

“We are committed to co-creating knowledge grounded in place-based histories and context," Hamzeh added.

One initiative titled "Borderlands Mural Representation at NMSU" involves collaborative artwork depicting borderlands cultures around campus. Diego Medina from the Piro-Manso-Tiwa tribe designed an initial mural leading to BEST offices; another mural was placed at NMSU's astronomy building entrance; additional murals are being planned by local artists including two NMSU art majors.

Another project focuses on developing culturally inclusive social studies curricula aligned with updated standards working alongside K-12 educators from southern New Mexico along with Las Cruces nonprofit Learning Action Buffet members covering topics like Mexican farm workers known as braceros or Japanese internment camps among others.

For more information about BEST Research Center visit their website [https://best.nmsu.edu/index.html](https://best.nmsu.edu/index.html).

A version originally appeared within Pinnacle magazine fall issue by NMSU College Of HEST accessible online [here](https://pinnacle.nmsu.edu/).