Journal of the Southwest Radio Southwest Center

Flood Justice in the US-Mexico Borderlands: Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Delta (In English) by Southwest Center

Flood Justice in the US-Mexico Borderlands: Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Delta (En Español) by Southwest Center

Flood Justice in the US-Mexico Borderlands: Ambos Nogales (En Español) by Southwest Center

Journal of the Southwest Radio is proud to present this series about flood justice in the US-Mexico Borderlands. Hosted by Lucas Belury, these bilingual episodes address the environmental, demographic, and political factors shaping the paradoxical issue of flooding in arid lands. The first episode, an interview with Dr. Adriana Zuniga-Terán, discusses green infrastructure, equitable policy and flood vulnerability in the border cities of ambos Nogales.

Lucas Belury is a second-year Ph.D. student in the School of Geography, Development and Environment at the University of Arizona. His research challenges environmental racism by integrating remote sensing for flood detection with the lived experience of marginalized Latinx communities along the US-Mexico border. Utilizing the human-centered design concept of co-production, in which research and community members are equal contributors of knowledge production, he collaborates with community-based flood justice advocacy organizations in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and Northeastern Mexico. Through these partnerships, his research supports community-based organizations in their challenge against environmental racism and structural inequality.

The 2023 edition of Tucson Meet Yourself honored the Corrido and one of its most prominent researchers and writers, Dr. Celestino Fernandez. He was interviewed by Dr. Estevan Azcona, musicologist and associated research scientist at the Southwest Center, as local corridistas played some of his compositions.

“Running tales” inspired by real events, Corridos amplify voices often muffled by dominant culture. A composer of over 50 corridos, Fernandez recently released Corridos de Celestino, a double album featuring corridos on immigration, the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and the massacre of 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, among other events.

Gabriel Dozal discusses his debut collection, The Border Simulator, where the U.S.-Mexico border is redefined as a place of invention; crossing it becomes a matter of simulation. The poems accompany Primitivo, who attempts to cross the border, an imaginary boundary that becomes more real and challenging as his journey progresses; and his sister, Primitiva, who lives an alternate, static life as an exploited migrant worker in la fabrica. He chats with Taylor about the experience of writing and living the borderlands, and shares the process of translating the work, completed by Natasha Tiniacos.

Gabriel is a writer and educator from El Paso, Texas. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Arizona and he is a poetry editor for DIAGRAM. His work appears in Poetry Magazine, The Iowa Review, Guernica, The Brooklyn Rail, The Literary Review, The Volta, and elsewhere.