Perceptions of U.S.–Mexico Border Discussed at Guy Caldwell Western Heritage Lecture

 (Abilene, Texas) On Friday evening, the 12th annual Guy Caldwell Western Heritage Lecture took place at Hardin Simmons University. The guest speaker was Dr. María-Socorro Tabuenca-Córdoba from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Dr. Cordoba’s lecture, “U.S.-Mexico Borders: Discourses and Representations of Peoples, Cultures and Literature”, presented her research and publication on Mexican women on the border, borders’ theory, representations in film, and representations of the Cuidad Juarez femicide. The lecture explored historical perceptions generated about the literal and figurative wall between the United States and Mexico.

Her lecture urged the audience to look at perceptions painted by history between Mexicans and Americans as the relationship between the two progresses.

Dr. Cordoba said, “This is not an easy conversation because it involves many years of history, many years of misunderstanding, and many years of intellectual colonialism. The concept of the border and the symbolic and geographic image of the Mexico-United States border has been up for debate for more than three decades.”

Dr. Cordoba is a professor of literature and languages and earned her Ph.D. in Hispanic Literature and Languages from State University of New York.

Dr. Tiffany Fink, Professor of History at HSU, said, “Her lecture [represents] the first look at the effect of the culture of the borderlands on the western heritage of Texas. Hardin-Simmons University embraces the opportunity to bring an exciting lecture to the Big Country in celebration of our western heritage.”

The Guy Caldwell Western Heritage Lecture is presented annually each spring through the generosity of Guy and Jeannette Caldwell.