UNM, Mexican Students Study Immigration

Program part of a UNM, Fray Luca convenio

Students from the University of New Mexico and Fray Luca Paccioli University recently returned from a summer seminar where they studied transborder issues for journalists. Taught by Richard Schaefer, professor, Communication and Journalism, the students were in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico exploring immigration, with a goal to produce radio programs for KUNM.

Photo: UNM Journalism Professor Richard Schaefer, far right, visits Televisa, a Cuernavaca television studio, with Grupo Fronterizo, an integrated group of students from UNM and Fray Luca Paccioli University. The group researched various immigration topics and produced segments to run on KUNM.

“We think we know a lot about immigration by living relatively close to the border in Albuquerque, but there are issues about immigration that can only be explored by talking to rural and city-dwelling Mexicans as well as by listening to government officials, policy makers and media representatives who have been covering the issue,” Schaefer said.

The UNM students, and their professor, spent time almost daily in Spanish language classes and worked closely with their Fray Luca classmates and their professor, Arturo Lopez Dúran, on language or cultural understanding issues.

Among topics the students explored were economic issues, U.S. decision to build a wall on the border, immigrants who return to Mexico, the impact on the family and women´s issues.

“The family unit is a very important social construct in Mexico… The Mexican economic situation that drives people to cross the border is a cause of family disintegration in Mexico,” Omar Rodríguez, student, Fray Luca Paccioli, said.

The students learned about a town, Tilzapotla, populated almost exclusively by women and children because the men are in the U.S. The town, which sits in a mountain shadow where rock and minerals used to make concrete are mined, features modern buildings and a remodeled church. Funds for the facelift come from men in the U.S.

“Chicago actually has a colonia called ´Tilza´ because of the high number of men from the village. They get together on the fourth of July and have a celebration in honor of their home,” Rodríguez said.

The problems for the women left behind are not inconsequential. “HIV and AIDS are becoming major health crises in Mexico because uneducated men go to the U.S., have unprotected sex with prostitutes, contract sexually transmitted diseases and bring them home to their families,” Krystal Zaragoza, UNM student, said.

In addition to the media project, the students were also exposed to Mexican history, culture and society. Cultural excursions included visits to the pyramids at Teotihuacan, the ancient sites of Xochicalco and Tepotzlan as well as a great tourist stop in Taxco.

“The border is a political dividing line that should not be an excuse to close minds,” Lopez said.

This was the first year UNM students traveled to Cuernavaca as part of the convenio UNM and Fray Luca signed several years ago.

Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu