Decolonizing New Mexico

Making the Case

This manuscript works to set the foundation for the work that is required to create transformation. Some of the questions before us are: how do we acknowledge the traumas of the past and yet still foster transformation in both present and future; how can we (re)imagine spaces, events and stories that are inclusive and that celebrate the complexity of its residents; how do take the harms and create possibility in healing?

At noted in the introduction, the goal of this particular document and website, Decolonizing New Mexico, is to make the case for why it is imperative to initiate this process. Toward this end, this writing has been developed to begin to document elements that constitute historic trauma in New Mexico and to explore the possibilities for transformation and healing.

Living history is learning from it. This is what it means to raise consciousness, part and parcel of the capacity of humanity. Toward this goal of accentuating the depth and breadth of what it means to be human, underlying this effort is the objective of supporting catalytic transformation grounded in a balanced commemoration and critical approach. This work is based on three key principles that have and continue to define my work, an approach that is centered upon designing and implementing experiences that:

Nurture and raise consciousness: This effort should stir curiosity and is not simply about getting people to think about the world around them, including about the imperative of different points of view, but it is also about cultivating new forms of knowledge.
Build and foster community: The goal, I hope, encourages us to think deeply about how history and the sites that serve as its touchstones and as ‘community based assets’ as well as the events could be leveraged to fortify a community’s sense of its identity. More than just theorizing equity and participation, it is about working with the community to create relevant and meaningful experiences.
Illuminate and inspire creativity: My upbringing and professional training has grounded me in interdisciplinary approaches, and my professional experience has taught me that engaging creatives in the work reveals unexpected outcomes, deepening the interpretive work in community. This is as much about art and ideas as it is about innovation.

The Context & Framework

Time

Temporally, New Mexico has often been divided by archaeologists into the troublesome binary of “prehistoric” and “historic”; or framed by historians into distinct periods: “Pre-contact, Spanish Colonial, Mexican, Territorial and American.” All fail to capture the complexity of cycles and the transitions that lead up to and follow events, both cataclysmic and ordinary.

People

Identity is neither static nor something easily defined. In New Mexico, it is like nesting dolls, one inside the other, with beauty buried in the layers of complexity and consciousness, unknown perhaps, but still there. Some individuals and communities stand in strength and sovereignty. Others, whether they carry the complexity of their ancestry in their faces and hands or not, sustain memory in an aching consciousness.

Place

The representations of New Mexico spatially are often revealed in cartography, though in the colonial context, mapping is largely about power and politics: positioning places, people and objects in space; lines on parchment often made at the behest of distant popes, kings and presidents.

Story

In New Mexico, there are as many stories as there have been and are people, places and events, and recognizing that the story depends upon its teller is essential. Here, multiple and overlapping themes evoke origins, prophesy, innovation and convergence. Some are tales spun to excite, enchant or lure and others to inform and elevate.

Charting the Path Toward Truth & Reconciliation

Making the Case

A Comparative Analysis

Overview

In an effort to contextualize this initiative, comparative research and analysis on methods and frameworks of various Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) projects provided insightful information. TRC models have been critical in resolving deeply rooted conflicts around the world, promoting the belief that confronting and reckoning with the past is necessary for successful transitions from conflict, resentment and tension to peace and connectedness.

Charting A Path Forward - Recommendations & Strategies

As the Western Apache say of their homelands in Arizona, “wisdom sits in places,” and New Mexico is certainly no exception. But one cannot grow wise by simply looking at the surface of the buildings or in neighborhoods. I believe that wisdom can only be achieved by seeing past the layers, which in essence makes it deeply and profoundly contested and connected.