The University of Arizona Press

Date: Thursday, June 20, 2024

Time: 3 – 4 p.m., AZT

Where: Zoom, register here

William L. Bird Jr., author of In the Arms of Saguaros, will speak on “The Collectible Saguaro: Cactus Craft in the Desert, 1920-1960.” Bird will explore the saguaro’s growth into a western icon from the early days of the American railroad to the years bracketing World War II, when Sun Belt boosterism hit its zenith and proponents of tourism succeed in moving the saguaro to the center of the promotional frame. In addition, Diane Dittemore, Associate Curator for the Arizona State Museum, will share saguaro-themed items from the museum’s collections. Dittemore is the author of Woven from the Center: Native Basketry in the Southwest. This free, virtual event is presented by the Friends of the Arizona State Museum Collections.

About the books:

In the Arms of Saguaros shows how, from the botanical explorers of the nineteenth century to the tourism boosters in our own time, saguaros and their images have fulfilled attention-getting needs and expectations. This book explores how the growth of tourism brought the saguaro to ever-larger audiences through the proliferation of western-themed imagery on the American roadside. The history of the saguaro’s popular and highly imaginative range points to the current moment in which the saguaro touches us as a global icon in art, fashion, and entertainment.

Woven from the Center: Native Basketry in the Southwest presents breathtaking basketry from some of the greatest weavers in the Southwest. Each sandal and mat fragment, each bowl and jar, every water bottle and whimsy is infused with layers of aesthetic, cultural, and historical meanings. This book offers stunning photos and descriptions of woven works from Tohono O’odham, Akimel O’odham, Hopi, Western Apache, Yavapai, Navajo, Pai, Paiute, New Mexico Pueblo, Eastern Apache, Seri, Yaqui, Mayo, and Tarahumara communities. This richly illustrated volume stands on its own as a definitive look at basketry of the Greater Southwest, including northern Mexico.

When: Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Time: 6 p.m., Central European Time

Where: Casa de la Cultura El Salvador Facebook live and in person at Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Hall O, Room 10.35, Gaußstraße 20, Wuppertal, Germany

Editors Mauricio Espinoza, Miroslava Arely Rosales Vásquez, and Ignacio Sarmiento will present their book, Central American Migrations in the Twenty-First Century at Bergische Universität Wuppertal in Germany, with link to the event on Facebook live. The Spanish language event starts at 6 p.m., Central European Time (10 a.m. PST, 11 a.m. MST, 12:00 p.m. CST, 1 p.m. EST) and is free and open to the public. The moderator for the event is Leda Carolina Lozier. Miroslava Arely Rosales Vásquez is a PhD student in literature at Bergische Universität Wuppertal; Ignacio Sarmiento is an assistant professor of Spanish and Latin American history at the State University of New York–Fredonia; Mauricio Espinoza is an assistant professor of Spanish and Latin American cultural studies at the University of Cincinnati. The event is sponsored by NAPALU, the German-Salvadoran Association for bilateral promotion of cultural exchange between El Salvador and Germany.

About the book:

Central American Migrations in the Twenty-First Century tackles head-on the way Central America has been portrayed as a region profoundly marked by the migration of its people. Through an intersectional approach, this volume demonstrates how the migration experience is complex and affected by gender, age, language, ethnicity, social class, migratory status, and other variables. Contributors carefully examine a broad range of topics, including forced migration, deportation and outsourcing, intraregional displacements, the role of social media, and the representations of human mobility in performance, film, and literature. The volume establishes a productive dialogue between humanities and social sciences scholars, and it paves the way for fruitful future discussions on the region’s complex migratory processes.

Date: Thursday, April 18, 2024

Time: 12 p.m. – 1 p.m., AZT

Where: Register for Zoom event here

Robert H. Webb will speak about his book, Requiem for the Santa Cruz: An Environmental History of an Arizona River, as part of the 2024 Arizona Author Series Zoom event presented by the State of Arizona Research Library. Webb is a research hydrologist and geoscientist, who retired from the National Research Program, Water Mission Area, US Geological Survey and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona. The event is free and open to the public. The presentation will be held virtually on Zoom, and will be recorded and made available on the State of Arizona Research Library YouTube channel.

About the book:

Authored by an esteemed group of scientists, Requiem for the Santa Cruz thoroughly documents this river—the premier example of historic arroyo cutting during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when large flood flows cut down through unconsolidated valley fill to form deep channels in the major valleys of the American Southwest. Each chapter provides a unique opportunity to chronicle the arroyo legacy, evaluate its causes, and consider its aftermath. Using more than a collective century of observations and collections, the authors reconstruct the circumstances of the river’s entrenchment and the groundwater mining that ultimately killed the marshlands, a veritable mesquite forest, and a birdwatcher’s paradise.

Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Time: 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., EST

Where: Register for Zoom event here

Alan Pelaez Lopez, editor of When Language Broke Open: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Black Writers of Latin American Descent, will read their poetry and be in conversation with poet Desiree C. Bailey at “Black Poetic Freedom Dreams,” presented by Rutgers Institute for the Study of Global Justice Relations. Pelaez Lopez’s work attends to the quotidian realities of undocumented migrants in the United States, Black resistance in the Pacific, and intimate kinship units that trans and nonbinary people build in the face of violence.

The event is free and open to the public, register for Zoom event here.

About the book:

When Language Broke Open collects the creative offerings of forty-five queer and trans Black writers of Latin American descent who use poetry, prose, and visual art to illustrate Blackness as a geopolitical experience that is always changing. Telling stories of Black Latinidades, this anthology centers the multifaceted realities of the LGBTQ community. By exploring themes of memory, care, and futurity, these contributions expand understandings of Blackness in Latin America, the Caribbean, and their U.S.-based diasporas. The works collected in this anthology encompass a multitude of genres—including poetry, autobiography, short stories, diaries, visual art, and a graphic memoir—and feature the voices of established writers alongside emerging voices. Together, the contributors challenge everything we think we know about gender, sexuality, race, and what it means to experience a livable life.

When: Thursday, April 18, 2024

Time: 5 – 6:30 p.m., AZT

Where: 1^st Floor, Ned Hatathli Cultural Center, Diné College, Tsaile, AZ, and Facebook Live @dine.college

Renae Watchman will speak about her book Restoring Relations Through Stories: From Dinétah to Denendeh at Diné College’s Nits’áá dóó ídahwiil’aah “We are learning from you,” speaker series. Watchman is an associate professor of Indigenous studies at McMaster University; she teaches Indigenous literatures and Indigenous film and is the co-editor of Indianthusiasm: Indigenous Responses. Her book introduces the dynamic field of Indigenous film through a close analysis of two distinct Diné-directed feature-length films, and ends by introducing Dene literatures. This talk will be the final one for the Spring Speaker Series. The event will be in-person at Ned Hatathli Cultural Center at Diné College and on Facebook live. The lecture is free and open to the public.

About the book:

This insightful volume delves into land-based Diné and Dene imaginaries as embodied in stories—oral, literary, and visual. Like the dynamism and kinetic facets of hózhǫ́,* Restoring Relations Through Stories takes us through many landscapes, places, and sites. Renae Watchman introduces the book with an overview of stories that bring Tsé Bitʼaʼí, or Shiprock Peak, the sentinel located in what is currently the state of New Mexico, to life.