Background photo used in collage is based on a street mural by Chite Yarumo and includes words by Douglas Cardinal. The photo is of public domain. The second image is a photograph by L. A. Williams of the banner brought to NMSU in 2015 by CARAVANA43 of Ayotzinapa families and peers of the 43 disappeared students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in Iguala, Mexico. The third image is a phtograph by M. C. Jonet of the New Mexico premiere of Hidden Flora by LGBTQ+ Borderlands filmmaker, Ryan Rox, at the Feminist Border Arts Film & Zine Festival in June 2024.
Knowledge for the 21st Century
G&SS: The Future Is Now
EVERYBODY'S GOT A BODY, G&SS IS FOR EVERY BODY
Gender & Sexuality Studies (G&SS) is a combined field of study that encompasses women's, gender, LGBTQ+, and feminist studies. It is a discipline dedicated to reshaping society through interdisciplinary approaches, knowledge production, creative expression, and community-engagement. Our curriculum is committed to shaping the future, learning from the past, and building in the present. G&SS at NMSU offers indispensable learning that sharpens your critical thinking skills, preparing you for today's world and the challenges and opportunities ahead.
On this website, you will find information about our degree and course offerings, our concentration and methodology in Media Arts & Cultural Studies (MACS), our faculty members, upcoming events, and initiatives such as the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP)—a federally funded program established in 2002 to help migrant or seasonal farmworker students attend college, led by Principal Investigator and G&SS professor Cynthia Bejarano—and Feminist Border Arts (FBA), founded and directed by G&SS professors Drs. M. Catherine Jonet and L. Anh Williams, now celebrating its tenth year. Assistant Professor Dr. Dylan McCarthy Blackston serves as a General Editor of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly.
We invite you to read the note from our Academic Director, Dr. L. Anh Williams, where you’ll be welcomedto Gender & Sexuality Studies at NMSU - a place where we are not just thinking about the future, but actively building it today. Click the links in the menu on the right to discover more about our mission, our commitment to Student Retention & Empowerment, our alignment with NMSU LEADS 2025, and more.
"I believe in the transformational power of the Gender & Sexuality Studies curriculum. I believe supporting the G&SS program and its curriculum is an act of resistance and hope and an investment in our future."
Heather Lang, PhD (she/her/they/them)
NMSU Gender & Sexuality Studies Alum (BA, 2010)
G&SS: Major with PRIDE
Transformative Learning: G&SS Academics
Education That Matters
Gender & Sexuality Studies at NMSU is a specialized, interdisciplinary academic unit, including a major, minor, dual degree options, and a NMSU Global Campus BA, alongside a graduate minor. Our curriculum stands at the forefront of academic inquiry, offering some of the most sought-after courses by learners across the university. Beyond the classroom and traditional research, we're deeply committed to public scholarship and outreach.
Your choice to pursue study in G&SS is an affirmation of your commitment to critical and creative worldmaking. Here, you will gain a deep understanding of gender and sexuality studies, developing skills and expertise that are highly sought after across different fields. These include academia and education, creative industries, arts and cultural administration, technology and digital spaces, nonprofit and advocacy work, policy development, healthcare and social services, journalism and media, the legal profession, business, and community mobilization, among others.
In addition to our core curriculum, the Gender & Sexuality Studies program at NMSU offers the Media Arts and Cultural Studies (MACS) course concentration and methodology, an intersection of creativity, film and media arts, media making, and critical analysis of popular culture. MACS is essential for understanding the role of these in shaping identities, societies, and change. This focus equips learners with critical media literacies, practice-based methods, and a deep grounding in G&SS approaches, furnishing them with the skills necessary to thrive in contemporary creative and technological media environments and beyond.
Interdisciplinary Expertise in Gender and Sexuality Studies: Our program stands at the crossroads of traditional disciplines, offering learners critical pedagogies, engaged learning, and the co-creation of knowledge. This expertise includes mastering theoretical frameworks and methodologies across women's studies, gender studies, LGBTQ+ studies, including queer and trans studies, and intersectionality, enabling them to critically engage with and contribute to discussions and practices that shape identities, communities, societies, and transformative change.
Worldmaking Critical Thinking Practices: Demonstrate the ability to apply a wide range of critical and creative methodologies, including feminist, queer, and transgender theories, to analyze complex problems related to gender, sexuality, race, society, difference, and social change. Whether you're dissecting historical documents or analyzing current events, you'll be equipped to contribute to groundbreaking research.
Integrated Inquiry, Research, and Creative Methodologies in Gender and Sexuality Studies: Here, research isn't just about writing papers; it's about sparking change. Engage in a variety of transformative approaches—from ethnography and critical analysis to textual analysis and research-creation projects like digital storytelling and comics inquiry. Plus, you'll have opportunities to participate in special initiatives like the Feminist Border Arts Film Festival, Transnational Solidarity Day, and pursue courses in the MACS concentration in G&SS.
Communication for Social Impact: Gain skills to engage, challenge, and forge new and different pathways. You'll learn how to articulate complex feminist, queer, and transgender theories in a way that resonates, whether you're presenting at an academic conference, leading a community workshop, or advocating for change in diverse social settings, including the workplace.
Effective Writing Across Media and Formats: Write powerful essays, create digital content and media-based projects that explore the complexities of social identity, power, difference, and social change.
Media Literacies and Theory: Critically analyze and engage with different kinds of texts, approaches, and media, understanding their impact on societal constructs and lived experience.
Advocacy and Civic Engagement: Utilize skills in advocacy and community organizing to effect change in policy and social structures at both local and global levels.
US, Borderlands, Transborder, Transnational, and Global Perspectives: Through US, transnational, and transborder perspectives, explore how gender and sexuality intersect with issues like migration, foodways, and environmental justice. Engage in hands-on projects that prepare you to be a changemaker, from documenting oral histories to participating in community art installations. You'll emerge with a nuanced understanding that empowers you to contribute with informed action on transnational issues, borders, and the Borderlands region.
Transformative Leadership and Professional Development: We offer an education that exceeds traditional academic boundaries, modeling multiple pathways for research, teaching, and community engagement, including digital initiatives. You'll acquire knowledge, approaches, and skills that empower you to be an agent for positive social change, grounded in research-based practices and critical thinking, generated from decades of feminist, queer, and other socially transformative knowledge projects and movements.
"In Gender and Sexuality Studies, student success is not just a goal, but a commitment. The faculty genuinely cares, seeking our voices, championing our triumphs, and investing in our futures. Every professor I've encountered relentlessly asked, 'how can I make sure you succeed?' - and then they did more than just listen, they took action. They see us not just as students, but as a community, guiding our educational paths with relentless commitment and equipping us with invaluable tools and unwavering support."
-Casey L Combs
NMSU G&SS Alum (Minor, 2023)
MACS: Media Arts & Cultural Studies Concentration in G&SS
Everyday Media - Our Production Tools
The Media Arts and Cultural Studies (MACS)concentration in G&SS blends contemporary creative practices in media and film with critical insights from women's, gender, and sexuality studies, embracing feminist, queer, transgender, and transnational frameworks. Open to all students, whether they are majoring, minoring, or simply drawn to the subject, MACS invites a deep dive into how media, arts, and culture intersect with gender, sexuality, and social transformation.
In MACS, students investigate how gender, sexuality, and intersectionality are portrayed and contested in contemporary media arts—films, video, TV, digital media, graphic narratives, and popular culture. The coursework encourages a critical examination of cultural products to understand their role in reflecting and shaping social norms and identities. This analysis is paired with an emphasis on using media arts as tools for advocacy, change, and cultural commentary.
Students in MACS engage with hands-on, project-based learning and adopt research-creation methodologies that merge scholarship with creativity. MACS emphasizes the integration of D.I.Y. Media Studies and Methods, offering a platform for students to explore and contribute to Gender and Sexuality Studies through a blend of analysis, advocacy, and innovative media creation. Emphasizing public scholarship, art activism, digital humanities, and DIY approaches, MACS empowers students to produce impactful work, like zines, public curation, and digital projects that challenge conventional narratives and advocate for social justice.
Courses are accessible on-campus, online, and via NMSU Global, making this transformative learning experience available to a broad audience. Enroll and join a community dedicated to shaping the future of media arts and social change.
"NMSU needs G&SS, plain and simple. Not only am I speaking from previous experience as a former student, where G&SS courses fundamentally shaped me as a scholar, but also as an instructor with more than 5 years of teaching experience. My students often express the need for space and intellectual understanding concerning their lived experiences and diverse identities. In an institution where diverse student experiences might be overlooked or undervalued, G&SS plays a crucial role in providing the necessary support and recognition."
Juan “Ricky” Araiza
NMSU G&SS Alum (graduate minor, 2020)
Critical Pedagogies: Meet the Faculty
Core G&SS Faculty
“The work I did in Gender & Sexuality Studies directly led to my decision to enter a PhD program. Gender and sexuality continue to be key components of my research.”
– Dr. EJ Nielsen, NMSU G&SS Alum, University of Massachusetts Amherst PhD
Our academic unit's core faculty are leaders in Gender & Sexuality Studies, driving discourse and expression. Dr. Cynthia Bejarano, a Regents Professor and the College of Arts and Sciences Stan Fulton Endowed Chair, combats gender-based violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and champions farmworker and migrant rights. Dr. Bejarano is the Principal Investigator of CAMP, the College Assistance Migrant Program at New Mexico State University. A new faculty member, Dr. Dylan McCarthy Blackston, a general editor of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, explores trans studies and ecological connections, as well as visual culture and intersections between transnational political economies and LGBTQ+ communities. Dr. M. C. Jonet, Founding Co-Director of Feminist Border Artsand Associate Professor, brings critical theoretical perspectives to queer and feminist theory, film, media arts, and culture. As a media-based filmmaker and designer, their work redefines how knowledge is produced and shared. Dr. L. Anh Williams, Academic Director of Gender & Sexuality Studies and Founding Co-Director of Feminist Border Arts, is an Associate Professor known for her expertise in Vietnamese and Asian American cultural production. As an illustrator, graphic novelist, and media maker, Dr. Williams brings together scholarship and creative expression. They also utilize participatory media projects like zines to further engage and amplify marginalized perspectives.
We are excited to welcome Prof. Juan "Ricky" Araiza (he/him) as a new College Track Assistant Professor and valuable member of the Feminist Border Arts team. A scholar, editor, and creator with expertise in text and papercraft, Ricky has called Las Cruces home since 2014. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Literature, Language, and Culture, with a Minor in Creative Writing, from New Mexico State University in 2018, followed by a Master’s degree in Literature, with a Minor in Gender & Sexuality Studies, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Alongside our core faculty, we collaborate with professors from different departments on campus who cross-list courses with us and adjunct faculty members, who bring diverse perspectives and professional experience to our academic community. Additionally, there are numerous scholars across campus who contribute to the field through their respective disciplines and other advocacy work. Many of these colleagues join us in our extended projects and research, lending their expertise and insights to further enrich initiatives and outreach events.
FBA10: 2025 Film and Zine Fest
FBA10: June 6-7, 2025
Crafting New Futures: Celebrate 10 Years of Feminist Border Arts
June 6-7, 2025 | University Art Museum, NMSU, Las Cruces, NM
We're hitting the 10-year mark, and you’re invited to be part of Feminist Border Arts 2025. This isn’t just another festival—it’s a place where film, media, and zines collide to challenge the status quo, spark conversations, and reimagine the future.
Join us at the University Art Museum for two days of screenings, zines, and special guest speakers who are pushing boundaries in art, storytelling, and social change. We're looking for bold, creative films and zines that break the mold—stuff that makes people stop, think, and view the world differently.
Key Dates:
Event: June 6-7, 2025
Location: NMSU University Art Museum, Las Cruces, NM
Film Submission Deadline: March 7, 2025
Zine Fest Application Deadline: March 14, 2025
2025 Sponsors: FBA’s 10th Annual Festival is sponsored by New Mexico Humanities Council, New Mexico State University’s Gender & Sexuality Studies, University Art Museum, College of Arts & Sciences, Office for Equity, Inclusion, & Diversity, NMSU Global Campus, Research, Creativity, and Economic Development, and LGBT+ Programs. Attendance is free and open to the public.
FBA Sponsors
Got a Film? Submit it.
We want films that go deep into the issues that matter—gender, LGBTQIA+, race, social justice—in ways we haven’t seen before. Documentary, animation, experimental, narrative—if it’s fresh, daring, and different, we want to see it.
Whether you’ve been making zines for years or this is your first body of work, if you’re doing something creative, queer, feminist, transborder, political, and personal, we want you at the Feminist Border Arts Zine Fest. Half tables are just $25, and we’re looking for voices that need to be heard.
Get ready to hear from some of the boldest voices in storytelling. These artists, filmmakers, and scholars are at the top of their game and bringing fresh perspectives:
Nicole J. Georges: Acclaimed graphic novelist, zine legend, and Lambda Literary Award winner (Calling Dr. Laura, Fetch).
Tony Candelaria: Animator and sculptor behind Pinocchio (2022) and Coraline; director and educator.
Alejandra Jimena Medina Gomez: Feminist animator from Mexico, known for her surreal and queer sensibilities in film.
Stef Choi: Zine maker and animation artist (Coraline, Guardians of the Galaxy), known for blending animation with ceramics.
Dr. David Tenorio: Scholar focused on queer transnational communities and digital storytelling.
Dr. Kylo-Patrick Hart & Dr. Alissa Burger: Editors of Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture, advancing critical discourse around LGBTQIA+ media representation.
Stay updated by following us on GenXProf Social Media: Instagram & Threads (@genxprof), Twitter/X (@gensxprof), and TikTok (@genxprof). You don’t want to miss news and media leading up to the event.
Drs. J & W: Red Reminds Me - Day With(out) Art
Red Reminds Me
In honor of World AIDS Day / Day With(out) Art 2024, NMSU's University Art Museum, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and Feminist Border Arts partner with Visual AIDS to present Red Reminds Me…, a program of seven videos reflecting the emotional spectrum of living with HIV today. Through the red ribbon and other visuals, HIV and AIDS have long been associated with the color red and its connotations—blood, pain, tragedy, and anger. Red Reminds Me… invites viewers to consider a complex range of images and feelings surrounding HIV, from eroticism and intimacy, mothering and kinship, luck and chance, memory and haunting.
The screening will include introductions by:
Marisa Sage, “Red Reminds Me of Pink (Gran Fury)”
Dr. M. C. Jonet, “Red Reminds Me of Madonna & Red Hot + Blue”
Dr. L. A. Williams, “Red Reminds Me of Philadelphia & Film”
Event Details: Date: December 3 Time: 4:00 – 5:30 PM Location: Bleachers, University Art Museum, NMSU
Light snacks and beverages will be provided. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit uam.nmsu.edu.
Dr. Blackston's Organizing a Fall 2024 G&SS Open House
Fall Open House
Hosted by Assistant Professor Dr. Blackston, the event will take place on October 23rd, from 11:45 AM - 1:45 PM, outside Breland Hall (across from Aggie Health and the Zuhl Library). Enjoy pizza and conversation while learning more about our academic degree program, courses, and other exciting learning opportunities.
For more info, contact Dr. Blackston at dmb1@nmsu.edu.
Bite Into Big Ideas
Dr. Bejarano's Latin American Heritage Month Book Launch
On behalf of my co-editor, Dr. Cristina Morales (University of Texas at El Paso), and I would like to invite you to our book launch event onWednesday, September 25th from 5:00-7:00pm at New Mexico State University's Health and Social Services Annex rm. 101, where we will launch our collection,FronteraMadre(hood): Brown Mothers Challenging Transborder Violence and Oppression at the U.S.-Mexico Border published with the University of Arizona Press this month.
Panelists include Cristina and I, Bertha Bermudez Tapia (NMSU), Paula Flores Bonilla (Cd. Juárez community activist), Paola Isabel Nava Gonzales (border artist), Taide Elena (Border Patrol Victims Network), and Marisa S. Torres (SDSU and UCSD). See below for a short bio of each person. Other book contributors attending the event will be available for questions during the Q&A component of the presentation, and during the reception to follow.
In this collection, thirty contributors (border scholars/researchers and community activists) from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border discuss their lived experiences, research, or community work challenging multiple layers of oppression shaped by the geopolitics of border zones, and how mothering transcends biological, sociological, or cultural and gendered tropes regarding ideas of motherhood, who can mother, and what mothering personifies.
Presentations will be in English and Spanish, and we will have simultaneous interpretation available in-person and for our zoom audience members. Here is the zoom link for on-line audience viewers: https://nmsu.zoom.us/j/83562742688
The Center for Latin American and Border Studies, the Theatre Arts Department and the College of Arts and Sciences Fulton Endowed Chair are sponsoring this event. The panel discussion will be followed by a reception at the Isabel M. Crouch Readers Theatre (next door to the HSS Annex where the event will take place).
The University bookstore will also sell the book at the reception.This event is free and open to the public.
Panelists' short bios:
Maria Cristina Morales is a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at El Paso. Her research focuses on social inequality among Latinxs, the U.S.-Mexico border, and structural violence.
Bertha A. Bermúdez Tapia is an assistant professor of sociology at New Mexico State University. Her research focuses on the impacts of state power on migrant and border lives, and the production of violence on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Paula Flores Bonilla, from Durango, Mexico and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua is a community activist who initiated Voces sin Eco, after her daughter María Sagrario was a femicide victim in 1998.
Paola Isabel Nava Gonzales, granddaughter of Paula Flores Bonilla, is an artist who cultivated her love for art by drawing portraits, mainly of her grandmother and others who she draws inspiration from in the Paso del Norte region.
Taide Elena is the founding member of the Border Patrol Victims Network (BPVN), a solidarity network formed after her teenage grandson, José Antonio Elena Rodríguez, was killed in Nogales, Arizona, in 2012.
Marisa S. Torres is a doctoral student in public health at San Diego State University and the University of California at San Diego. Her work centers on Latinx health disparities in the San Diego/Imperial County area.
Cynthia Bejarano is a Regents Professor in gender and sexuality studies/English at NMSU. Her scholarship and advocacy center on the U.S.-Mexico border and the embodiment of violence in vulnerable communities.
En Espanol:
En nombre de mi coeditora, la Dra. Cristina Morales (Universidad de Texas en El Paso), me gustaría invitarlos a nuestro evento de lanzamiento del libro el miércoles 25 de septiembre de 5:00 a 7:00 p. m. en el Universidad Estatal de Nuevo México, Sala Anexo de Servicios Sociales y de Salud, salón numero 101, en donde lanzaremos nuestra colección,FronteraMadre(hood): Brown Mothers Challenging Transborder Violence and Oppression at the U.S.-Mexico Border, publicado con la prensa de la Universidad de Arizona este mes.
Los panelistas incluyen a Ma. Cristina Morales y yo, Bertha Bermúdez Tapia (NMSU), Paula Flores Bonilla (activista comunitaria de Cd. Juárez), Paola Isabel Nava Gonzales (artista fronteriza), Taide Elena (Red de Víctimas de la Patrulla Fronteriza) y Marisa S. Torres (SDSU y UCSD). Consulte a continuación una breve biografía de cada persona. Otras colaboradoras del libro estarán presentes y disponibles para preguntas después de la presentación del panel durante el periodo de preguntas y respuestas y la recepción posterior.
En esta colección, treinta colaboradores (investigadores fronterizos y activistas comunitarios) de ambos lados de lafronteraentre Estados Unidos y México discuten sus experiencias vividas, investigaciones o trabajo comunitario que desafían múltiples capas de opresión moldeadas por la geopolítica de las zonas fronterizas, y cómo la maternidad trasciende los tropos biológicos, sociológicos o culturales y de género con respecto a las ideas de maternidad, quién puede sermadrey qué personifica la maternidad.
Este evento se llevará a cabo en inglés y español. Tendremos interpretación simultánea disponible en persona y para los miembros de nuestra audiencia de Zoom. Aquí está el enlace de zoom para los espectadores de la audiencia en línea:https://nmsu.zoom.us/j/83562742688
El Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos y Fronterizos, el Departamento de Artes Teatrales y la Cátedra Fulton de la Facultad de Artes y Ciencias patrocinan este evento. El panel de discusión será seguido por una recepción en el Teatro Isabel M. Crouch Readers Theatre (al lado del Anexo HSS donde se llevará a cabo el evento).
La librería de la Universidad también venderá el libro en la recepción.Este evento es gratuito y abierto al público.
Breves biografías de los panelistas:
María Cristina Morales es profesora de sociología en la Universidad de Texas en El Paso. Su investigación se centra en la desigualdad social entre los latinos, lafronteraentre Estados Unidos y México y la violencia estructural.
Bertha A. Bermúdez Tapia es profesora asistente de sociología en la Universidad Estatal de Nuevo México. Su investigación se centra en los impactos del poder estatal en las vidas de los migrantes y en lasfronteras, y en la producción de violencia en lafronteraentre Estados Unidos y México.
Paula Flores Bonilla, de Durango, México y Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, es una activista comunitaria que inició Voces sin Eco, luego de que su hija María Sagrario fuera víctima de feminicidio en 1998.
Paola Isabel Nava Gonzales, nieta de Paula Flores Bonilla, es una artista que cultivó su amor por el arte dibujando retratos, principalmente de su abuela y otras personas en quienes se inspira en la región de Paso del Norte.
Taide Elena es miembro fundador de la Red de Víctimas de la Patrulla Fronteriza (BPVN), una red de solidaridad formada después de que su nieto adolescente, José Antonio Elena Rodríguez, fuera asesinado en Nogales, Arizona, en 2012.
Marisa S. Torres es estudiante de doctorado en salud pública en la Universidad Estatal de San Diego y la Universidad de California en San Diego. Su trabajo se centra en las disparidades de salud de los latinos en el área de San Diego/Condado Imperial.
Cynthia Bejarano es profesora Regents en estudios de género y sexualidad/inglés en NMSU. Su beca y defensa se centran en lafronteraentre Estados Unidos y México y la encarnación de la violencia en comunidades vulnerables.
GenXProf Social Media
Feminist Border Arts is a research-creation and curation initiative in D.I.Y. Media Studies and Methods by Jonet & Williams, located in G&SS. GenXProf social media (GensXProf on X - Twitter) supports FBA projects and G&SS.
Recent Event: 19th Annual J. Paul Taylor Social Justice Symposium
April 10, 2024
On April 10th 2024, G&SS will be hosting the 19th annual J. Paul Taylor Social Justice Symposium. The symposium, commemorating 35 years of G&SS at NMSU, will be a day-long event highlighting the importance of inclusive leadership and the impact of collective voices in the fight for social change. Join us at the Corbett Center Student Union Auditorium, where admission is free, and the exchange of ideas is boundless.
The NMSU Department of Government will also be giving out the Social Justice Award during the event.
NMSU DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Clara Belle Williams Hall
Rm.132, P.O. Box 30001,
MSC 3E, Las Cruces, NM 88003,
Tel: 5756463931
Administrative Email: Ruth Gracia, rgracia@nmsu.edu
Department Head: Dr. Elizabeth Schirmer, eschirme@nmsu.edu
