Journal of the Southwest Radio

Southwest Center

The Journal of the Southwest Radio Hour brings the voices of researchers, educators, activists and community members working to better understand the region’s past and envision possible new futures.

  1. Aug 4

    Jonathan Danielson: Arizona Literary Regionalism

    A burned-out cop named Tweed, a neighbor with a dead horse, nods to John Wayne, Waylon Jennings, Charles Portis, and the Phoenix Suns. These are just a few of the elements of Jonathan Danielson’s The Lowest Basin: Arizona Stories, a purposeful recasting Arizona’s place—and Arizona as place—in contemporary Western fiction. Hailed by Arizona's Poet Laureate Alberto Ríos as quieter than old Westerns but "louder in the depths of the heart," the stories fill a real gap in literature of the region. Author of The Cactus League Emily Nemens compared the stories to desert rocks that "hold their warmth long after sundown." Dr. Jennifer Jenkins talks in this episode with author Jonathan Danielson, a second-generation Scottsdale denizen and guide to the vagaries of 21st century Arizona in fiction. He holds an MFA from the University of San Francisco and a PhD from Arizona State University, and is an active proponent of Arizona Regionalism as a distinct literary genre. His linked short story collection, The Lowest Basin: Arizona Stories, was long-listed for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and was chosen by the Pima County Public Library as a 2026 Southwest Book of the Year.

    Jonathan Danielson: Arizona Literary Regionalism

  2. Feb 23

    Colin Deeds - The Border: Binational Problems, Binational Solutions

    Historian and anthropologist Carlos Vélez- Ibáñez famously stated that the U.S.-Mexico border is only two grandmothers old. Those grandmothers would recognize many things about the 21st century border, but other aspects would seem as strange to them as the technology, slang, and styles of their great-great-grandchildren. Yet the border is, as Gloria Anzaldúa and Homi Bhabha have both written, a third space unto itself, not fully of either country, but fully participating in both cultures, lifeways, economies, histories, foodways, and facing the shared challenges that arrive from distant capitals. Jennifer Jenkins talks in this episode with Colin Deeds, a lifelong Arizona resident and longtime interpreter of the U.S., Mexico. He holds degrees in anthropology and Latin American studies from the University of Arizona and has studied in Argentina, worked as an archaeologist for the National Park Service, and has conducted research in Mexico on politics and migration for many years. Colin is the Assistant Director and Director of Graduate Studies in the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona.

    Colin Deeds - The Border: Binational Problems, Binational Solutions

  3. 10/29/2025

    Liliana López Ruelas: Building Community in Tucson´s News Desert

    On April 25, 2023, a phone call from an out-of-state number ended La Estrella de Tucsón, leaving the city without a Spanish-language newspaper. For Liliana López Ruelas, who had spent years as an editor there, it was a moment of frustration—but also of determination. Host Carlos Quintero speaks with Liliana about what happened next: a return to school, a master's degree at the University of Arizona, and the launch of Somos Tucson, a digital news outlet focused on serving Tucson's Latino community with útil, celebratory journalism. Born in Douglas and raised in Agua Prieta, Liliana shares her journey across borders, from Mexico City's political magazines to Tucson's newsrooms, and why she now embraces her identity as a Latina journalist. This is a conversation about community journalism, collaborative resistance, and the power of staying close to the stories that matter most.

    Liliana López Ruelas: Building Community in Tucson´s News Desert

  4. 10/06/2025

    Erica Franco: La Estrella Bakery and the Art of Baking Belonging

    Since 1986, La Estrella Bakery has been much more than a place to buy pan dulce, it’s been a pillar of Tucson’s cultural life, a space of ritual, memory, and early morning conversations over conchitas and cuernitos. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage month, host Carlos Quintero speaks with Erica Franco, second-generation member of the family behind La Estrella, about what it means to carry on a tradition baked in love, community, and resilience. Erica shares stories of 3 a.m. baking shifts, drawings from kindergarten fans, and the return to the barrio bakery where it all began. This is a conversation about food, but also about family, belonging, and the quiet power of staying close to your roots.

    Erica Franco: La Estrella Bakery and the Art of Baking Belonging

  5. 09/03/2025

    Don Unger - Critical Reclamation: Uranium, Storytelling, and Healing on the Navajo Nation

    In this powerful conversation, Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Southwest Center, speaks with Don Unger, recent PhD and environmental historian, about his groundbreaking research on uranium mining reclamation on the Navajo Nation. Unger discusses the ethics of storytelling, the balance between technical and spiritual approaches to healing the land, and his concept of Critical Reclamation Studies, a framework grounded in both Western policy and Navajo cosmology. Together, they explore the lived realities of land restoration, long drives and “cabin conversations,” and the wisdom of community leaders like Mr. Melvin Yazzie and Mr. Ernest Greyeyes. This episode opens a window into environmental justice, language, and the ongoing legacy of Cold War uranium mining in the Southwest.

    Don Unger - Critical Reclamation: Uranium, Storytelling, and Healing on the Navajo Nation

  6. 07/30/2025

    Roberto Wolf: Protecting the Jaguar in Northern Mexico

    In this episode, we talk with Roberto Wolfe, Mexico General Manager for the Northern Jaguar Project, a binational conservation effort based in Tucson, Arizona, and Sahuaripa, Sonora. NJP’s mission is to preserve and recover the world’s northernmost population of jaguars, an apex predator and keystone species whose survival supports entire ecosystems. Through partnerships with local ranchers, environmental education in Sonoran schools, and long-term scientific research --including extensive use of camera traps-- NJP protects over 56,000 acres of core jaguar habitat in the Sierra Madre foothills. Roberto grew up in Mexico City and began his journey into wildlife care as a teenage volunteer at Chapultepec Zoo. Trained in veterinary science, he brings deep knowledge of big cat biology and a passion for transboundary conservation. As jaguar habitats across the Americas shrink due to deforestation, development, and border infrastructure, Roberto helps lead efforts to ensure these elusive cats continue to roam from Sonora to southern Arizona.

    Roberto Wolf: Protecting the Jaguar in Northern Mexico

  7. 05/27/2025

    Nicolás Pineda Pablos: Hermosillo Has a Drinking Water Problem

    Dr. Nicolás Pineda Pablos is a political scientist and researcher at the Colegio de Sonora, in Hermosillo, and one of Mexico’s foremost experts on urban water provision. Here, Dr. Pineda rings us up to speed on Hermosillo’s current water situation. Hermosillo, the state capital, is a Sonoran Desert city with close to one million people and faces profound climate-related challenges: a swiftly warming and drying environment, ongoing drought, and the threat of ever-more severe storms. Mexico’s north and northwest are currently experiencing some of the worst drought conditions in recorded history, with reservoir levels down by as much as 70 or 80% in some regions. Dr. Pineda is part of a diverse group of concerned citizens and experts called Hermosillo Cómo Vamos? – Hermosillo, How are We Doing? –  working together to provide research-based solutions to this hairy problem. Dr. Pineda talks about all of this and much more, including the question of whether Hermosillo is facing a so-called Day Zero scenario, in which the city becomes unable to provide a basic reliable supply of potable water to its citizens.

    Nicolás Pineda Pablos: Hermosillo Has a Drinking Water Problem

  8. 02/27/2025

    Alex La Pierre: Borderlandia, Citizen-Level Diplomacy

    Our guest for this episode of JSW Radio is Alex La Pierre. Alex is co-founding director, with his wife Rocío La Pierre, of the binational, Southern Arizona-based non-profit organization, Borderlandia. Borderlandia’s mission is to expand public understanding of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands through a diversity of activities, including, especially, educational tours in southern Arizona and in Sonora, Mexico. I ask Alex about this work and about his view of public history more broadly. We also discuss how perceptions of the borderlands region seem to become more distorted the farther away one gets, and how Borderlandia’s work aims to combat this distorting effect of distance and politics. https://www.borderlandia.org/

    Alex La Pierre: Borderlandia, Citizen-Level Diplomacy
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The Journal of the Southwest Radio Hour brings the voices of researchers, educators, activists and community members working to better understand the region’s past and envision possible new futures.

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