Javier Durán, associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese and director of Border Studies.
Javier Durán, University of Arizona associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese and director of Border Studies, has been named president-elect of the Association for Borderlands Studies.
Durán is a specialist in cultural and literary studies along the U.S.-Mexico border with an emphasis on U.S. & Mexican border studies, Latin American women writers, Mexican literature and culture, and Chicana/Chicano & Latina/Latino narrative and is a native of the Arizona-Sonora desert region.
As president-elect he has the responsibility of organizing the program for the association's annual conference.
Founded in 1976 with the original emphasis on the study of the United States-Mexico borderlands region, the Association for Borderlands Studies is the leading international scholarly association dedicated exclusively to the systematic interchange of ideas and information relating to border areas.
The association encompasses an interdisciplinary membership of scholars at more than 100 academic and governmental institutions, and non-government organizations representing the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe while also working in partnership with the Western Social Science Association.
The association's interdisciplinary aspects are reflected in the UA's Border Studies Program and the students and graduates who are working to complete or who have completed doctoral degrees in the program.
Araceli Masterson, a border studies doctoral graduate investigates migration issues and the idea of borders that are self-imposed or imposed by governments. Her border studies concentrate on Ecuadorians who immigrate to Spain.
"I'm looking at the ways in which people perceive their place in definitions of nationhood, and how that influences the opportunities they have," Masterson said.
"The neat thing about border studies is that it is trans-disciplinary. I have had the opportunity to work and understand border issues here in Arizona and through my research study how borders are experienced, whether it is experienced through the building of a wall or a blockade of policemen or even when we limit ourselves by not visiting a neighborhood outside of our own," Masterson said. "The concept of border allows us to make connections and conduct research from the social sciences and humanities disciplines and sometimes a combination of the two depending on one's focus."
Having the border studies program in the UA's Spanish and Portuguese department helps students build bridges-linguistic, cultural and academic, to name a few-between U.S. studies on the border and border studies being conducted in other countries, said Alejandrina Barajas, a graduate teaching and research assistant who is working on a doctorate in border studies.
The links the national association provides are essential for the UA's border studies students.
Barajas is studying the representation of indigenous women on both the U.S. and Mexico side of the border and has worked in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, thanks to connections made through Durán and the Association for Borderlands Studies.
"The Journal of Borderlands Studies," the organization's refereed academic journal, presents leading research on border issues. The association also co-sponsors other international meetings on border topics. Recent meetings were held in Israel, Canada and El Paso Texas.
Durán said he will work on having a strong UA representation during the association's conference, which provides an opportunity to share research with those in the field internationally.
"I am working closely with several colleagues across campus to enhance border studies and given the high number of UA folks working on border-related issues, I think we can demonstrate that the UA is a world leader in the field," Durán said.
Durán's goal for the Association of Borderlands Studies is to promote an increase in the number of underrepresented academics from the humanities, the biosciences and the arts, and to galvanize institutional resources and financial support for Association for Borderlands Studies-related activities and events.
UA Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Javier D. Duran
520-621-3123
duran@u.arizona.edu