Join the LAII and UNM Press for a discussion on Querencia: Reflections on the New Mexico Homeland with contributers Kevin Brown, Tey Marianna Nunn and Irene Vasquez, moderated by Matthew Martinez, Deputy Director of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. New Mexico cultural envoy Juan Estevan Arellano, to whom this work is dedicated, writes that querencia “is that which gives us a sense of place, that which anchors us to the land, that which makes us a unique people, for it implies a deeply rooted knowledge of place, and for that reason we respect it as our home.” This collection of both deeply personal reflections and carefully researched studies explores the New Mexico homeland through the experiences and perspectives of Chicanx and indigenous/Genízaro writers and scholars from across the state. The importance of querencia for each contributor is apparent in their work and their ongoing studies, which have roots in the culture, history, literature, and popular media of New Mexico.

Kevin Brown joined University Libraries in March 2016. Kevin has two BAs, one from the Institure of American Indian Arts in Museum Studies and the other from University of Arizona in Anthropology. He also has a MA from UNM in Public Archaeology, and is currently working on his PhD in Archaeology. Through his work with NM Native American youth, he gained a wealth of experience in student engagement and retention. He has intimate knowledge of the Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections that he acquired through his CSWR Fellowship in 2013-2014. He is also an artist and photographer. Kevin is a member of the Navajo Nation.

Tey Marianna Nunn is Director and Chief Curator of the Art Museum and Visual Arts Program at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Previous to this she spent nine years as the Curator of Contemporary Hispano and Latino collections at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. She’s the author of Sin Nombre: Hispana and Hispano Artists of the New Deal Era (University of New Mexico Press). Nunn received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico, where her research focused on Spanish Colonial, Contemporary Latin American, and Chicana/o and Latina/o history and art history. As a Nuevomexicana and ardent advocate for artists, Nunn is active in issues concerning Latinos and representation in museums and the art world. In 2016, President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Nunn to the National Museum and Library Services Board. Since that time, Nunn has continued her research, advocacy, and support for Latino artists, arts and culture on local, regional, national, and international levels.

Irene Vásquez specializes in the intersectional histories and politics of Mexican-descent populations in the Americas. Her research and teaching interests include U.S. and transnational social and political movements. She co-authored a book on the Chicana and Chicano Movement titled, Making Aztlan: Ideology and Culture of the Chicana and Chicano Movement: Ideology, 1966-1977, published by the University of New Mexico Press. She has written several essays in English and Spanish on the historic and contemporary relations between African Americans and Latin American descent peoples in the Americas. Irene Vásquez co-edited the The Borders In All of Us: New Approaches to Global Diasporic Societies, published by New World African Press. She is currently working on publications centering on immigrant and human rights organizing in the U.S. In addition, she has previously published essays on Indigenous peoples in what is today northern Mexico.

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