Memories, Narratives & Oppositional Consciousness of Black Diasporas 

Funded by the Crossing Latinidades Humanities Initiative via the Mellon Foundation, this project uses digital humanities tools and oral history methods to create an AfroChicanx multimodal bilingual digital archive for undergraduate students, local and transnational communities, and academic departments.

This community memory project is meant to preserve, amplify, and disseminate the histories and experiences of AfroMexican, AfroChicanxs, Blaxicans, and AfroHispanos in the Borderlands. Currently, our three sites are New Mexico, Arizona, and California. 

Monday, Oct. 9: Public lecture & reception

“AfroChicanx Digital Humanities Project: Memories, Narratives, and Oppositional Consciousness of Black Diasporas”

• University of Arizona
• ENR2 Room S107, 1064 E Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ 85721
• 5:30pm reception
• 6:15pm panel starts 

Please join us for a reception and conversation with Dr. Linda Garcia Merchant, University of Houston, Dr. Micaela Díaz-Sánchez, UC Santa Bárbara, Dr. Dora Careaga-Coleman, University of New Mexico, and artist and photojournalist Koral Carballo, Poza Rica, Veracruz, who will discuss how their work engages with the histories and experiences of AfroMexican, AfroChicanxs, Blaxicans, and AfroHispanos in the Borderlands. 

Wednesday, Oct. 11: On-campus workshop 

• University of Arizona
• 1110 James E Rogers Way, Tucson, AZ 85719
• Guerrero Student Center Lounge
• Cesar Chavez Building, Room  211 
• 11am-2pm

Wednesday, Oct. 11: Community workshop 

We'll explore photography as a resource to reconstruct family, identity and community genealogy. We are also going to reflect on Afro-descendants in Mexico and its Afrochicanx diaspora. Bring your family photo albums, and if you don't have them, we'll share tools on how to digitize your albums.

• Dunbar Pavillion 
• 325 W 2nd Street, Tucson, AZ 85705
• Historic Dining Hall
• Park in Dunbar’s Upper Parking lot, enter from Main Ave.
•  6-9pm

Thursday, Oct. 12 - Saturday, Oct. 14: Oral history interviews

We will conduct oral histories to document the experiences of Afro-Chicanidad / Mexicaness in the Arizona borderlands.

We want to hear and document your story. Please sign up now. 

Friday, Oct. 13: Community workshop 

We'll focus on flavors of the African Diaspora, especially the African origins of Mexican foods. This will be an interactive dialogue about the importance of Afromexican food ways as a form of cultural retention with sensorial engagement with food, through touch, taste, and storytelling.

• Consulado de Mexico en Tucson
• 3915 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85711
• Galeria Leonore Carrington
• 11-1pm