{"id":3152,"date":"2022-12-20T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T19:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/?p=3152"},"modified":"2023-01-23T16:43:14","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T23:43:14","slug":"als-faculty-graduate-students-and-alumnae-present-at-wla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/blog\/2022\/12\/20\/als-faculty-graduate-students-and-alumnae-present-at-wla\/","title":{"rendered":"ALS Faculty, Graduate Students, and Alumnae Present at WLA\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>ALS Faculty and Graduate Students attended, presented, and participated in the 54th Annual Western Literature Association (WLA) Conference held  in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This year, the conference featured a reading by <strong>Luci Tapahonso<\/strong> and a lecture titled, \u201cThe Other New Mexico: Reveries, Reflections, Rants\u201d by <strong>Denise Ch\u00e1vez<\/strong>. The event was co-sponsored by the UNM English Department, the Center for Regional Studies, and the Institute for American Indian Research, which announced its first annual Luci Tapahonso Distinguished Indigenous Speakers Series.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Luci Tapahonso<\/strong> is the first Navajo Poet Laureate and an alumna of our undergraduate program (BA, 1980) as well as a retired Professor of Creative Writing. Tapahonso was presented with the Distinguished Achievement Award and was a speaker in the Distinguished Indigenous Speaker Series, a series that brought together Indigenous scholars and intellectuals from a variety of backgrounds and experiences to share their perspectives on Indigenous issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Denise Ch\u00e1vez<\/strong> is a celebrated Chicana writer and alumna of our department (MA, 1984) who received an honorary doctorate from UNM (2004). Along with these two high-profile writers, faculty, graduate students, and alumnae in American Literary Studies were amongst those attending and presenting papers on the theme, \u201cPalimpsests and Western Literatures: The Layered Spaces of History Imagination, and the Future.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amy Gore<\/strong>, ALS PhD alumna (2019), who  is currently an Assistant Professor in the English Department at North Dakota State University, organized the panel, \u201cJoaquin Murieta Across Borders,\u201d where she presented, \u201cViolent Bibliography and the Transnational Legacy of Ridge\u2019s\u202f<em>Murieta<\/em>;\u201d and ALS Professor, <strong>Jesse Alem\u00e1n <\/strong>presented, \u201cThe Rinaldo Rinaldini of California: Global Print Culture and the Making of\u202f<em>Joaquin Murieta<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Erin Murrah-Mandril<\/strong>, ALS PhD alumna (2014) and Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of Texas, Arlington, presented, \u201cMapping Latinx Political Autobiography in the U.S.\u201d Murrah-Mandril\u2019s book,\u202f<em>In the Mean Time: The Temporal Colonization of Mexican America<\/em> \u202f(U Nebraska, 2021) will be released in paperback next year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A. Laurie Lowrance<\/strong>, ALS PhD alumna (2021) and currently a faculty member in the English Department at Cisco College, presented, \u201cAdina de Zavala\u2019s Scrapbooks: Rewriting and Repurposing the Alamo as Domestic Space\u201d in the session,  \u201cImagining Otherwise: Women Righting the West.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sarah Hernandez<\/strong>, ALS Assistant Professor, organized a panel, \u201cReadings and Counter-Readings of Oceti Sakowin Land and Cultural Sustainment Narratives,\u201d where  she presented, \u201cMissionary Colonizers and the Politics of the Printing Press,\u201d in the session, \u201cReadings and Counter-Readings of Oceti Sakowin Land and Cultural Sustainment Narratives;\u201d and RW Lecturer, <strong>Julie Newmark <\/strong>presented, \u201cCharles Alexander Eastman and Presence, Absence, and Resistance\u201d and \u201cReports and Official Correspondence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ALS Associate Professor, <strong>Melina Vizca\u00edno-Alem\u00e1n<\/strong> organized the panel, \u201cChicana Palimpsests: Creativity and Critical Inquiry\u201d where she presented, \u201cChicana Letters: Writing Back, <em>Con Safos<\/em>;\u201d UNM alumna, Dr. <strong>Karen Roybal<\/strong>, Associate Professor at Colorado College presented, \u201c<em>Sabrina and Corina<\/em>: Storytelling as an Act of Resistance against Displacement,\u201d and second-year MA student, <strong>Kimberly Blake<\/strong> presented, \u201cEthnic, Feminist, Ecopoetics in Denise Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s\u202f<em>The Last of the Menu Girls<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Vizca\u00edno-Alem\u00e1n <\/strong>additionally chaired the session, \u201cHistoriography, Intertextuality, and Decolonial Approaches to Rudolfo Anaya\u2019s Borderlands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second-year ALS PhD Candidate,<strong> Brandy Reeves <\/strong>presented, \u201cDeconstructing the Family in Sandra Cisneros\u2019s\u202f<em>Caramelo\u202f<\/em>and\u202f<em>Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories<\/em>\u201d in the session, \u201cComing of Age in the West.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Altogether, the 54<sup>th<\/sup>\u202fAnnual WLA featured the best and brightest of UNM\u2019s American Literary Studies program, as well as the words and wisdom of its most influential and dynamic Chicana and Indigenous women writers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Melina Vizca\u00edno-Alem\u00e1n organized \u201cChicana Palimpsests: Creativity and Critical Inquiry,\u201d which took place after Denise Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s lecture, \u201cThe Other New Mexico: Reveries, Reflections, Rants.\u201d Vizca\u00edno-Alem\u00e1n introduced the effusive speaker, and Ch\u00e1vez attended the panel featuring UNM alumna Dr. Karen Roybal, Associate Professor at Colorado College, who presented \u201c<em>Sabrina and Corina<\/em>: Storytelling as an Act of Resistance against Displacement.\u201d Vizca\u00edno-Alem\u00e1n presented \u201cChicana Letters: Writing Back,\u00a0<em>Con Safos<\/em>,\u201d and second-year MA student Kimberly Blake presented \u201cEthnic, Feminist, Ecopoetics in Denise Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s\u00a0<em>The Last of the Menu Girls<\/em>.\u201d Also at the conference, second-year PhD student Brandy Reeves presented \u201cDeconstructing the Family in Sandra Cisneros\u2019s\u00a0<em>Caramelo\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories<\/em>,\u201d and first-year MA student Deanna Tenorio volunteered at the registration booth. Altogether, the 54<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Annual WLA featured the best and brightest of UNM\u2019s American Literary Studies program, as well as the words and wisdom of its most influential and dynamic Chicana and Indigenous women writers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_panelists_karen-roybal_kimber-blake_melina-vizcaino-aleman_amanda-ellis_elena-valdez-1024x327.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3177\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_panelists_karen-roybal_kimber-blake_melina-vizcaino-aleman_amanda-ellis_elena-valdez-1024x327.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_panelists_karen-roybal_kimber-blake_melina-vizcaino-aleman_amanda-ellis_elena-valdez-300x96.jpg 300w, https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_panelists_karen-roybal_kimber-blake_melina-vizcaino-aleman_amanda-ellis_elena-valdez-768x246.jpg 768w, https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_panelists_karen-roybal_kimber-blake_melina-vizcaino-aleman_amanda-ellis_elena-valdez-1536x491.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_panelists_karen-roybal_kimber-blake_melina-vizcaino-aleman_amanda-ellis_elena-valdez-816x261.jpg 816w, https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_panelists_karen-roybal_kimber-blake_melina-vizcaino-aleman_amanda-ellis_elena-valdez.jpg 1564w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Pictured, from left to right: Karen Roybal, Kimber Blake, Melina Vizcaino-Aleman, Amanda Ellis, Elena Valdez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"351\" src=\"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_audience-photo-of-panel-1024x351.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3178\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_audience-photo-of-panel-1024x351.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_audience-photo-of-panel-300x103.jpg 300w, https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_audience-photo-of-panel-768x263.jpg 768w, https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_audience-photo-of-panel-1536x526.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_audience-photo-of-panel-2048x701.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLA_2022_audience-photo-of-panel-816x279.jpg 816w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Denise Chavez (far right) during panel conversation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ALS Faculty and Graduate Students attended, presented, and participated in the 54th Annual Western Literature Association (WLA) Conference held in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This year, the conference featured a reading by Luci Tapahonso and a lecture titled, \u201cThe Other New Mexico: Reveries, Reflections, Rants\u201d by Denise Ch\u00e1vez. The event was co-sponsored by the UNM [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3152"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3181,"href":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3152\/revisions\/3181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.unm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}