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One of the most polarizing issues in the United States is about to get a fresh look through the eyes of artists, poets and even a YouTuber.

The CU 麻豆官网听听department and听听will hold听, a new two-day event diving into 鈥淭he Aesthetics of Migration鈥� from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The event will be held on Nov. 9 at CU 麻豆官网鈥檚听听and Nov. 10听听in Denver.

The free public event series is meant to foster cross cultural dialogues about human migration from Latin America. It will offer attendees a unique combination of academic research and artistic expression.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the scholarly presentation,鈥� said John-Michael Rivera, director of the Program for Writing & Rhetoric. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to have multiple performances and video screenings and readings at one event so it moves through different types of trajectories and media.鈥�

The Nov. 9 event at Norlin Library will open at 3:45 p.m. with a faculty panel featuring Rivera alongside scholars in Ethnic Studies, Geography, Theatre & Dance and Sociology. The next night at 6 p.m. in Counterpath will also have a local flair, with readings and performances by Denver youth writers and artists. 听 听

Visiting influencers like Mexican scholar Rafael P茅rez y P茅rez and Armando Iba帽ez will headline both nights. Iba帽ez鈥檚 online series Undocumented Tales听follows the journey of a Mexican server living in Los Angeles with two secrets: He is living there illegally and he identifies as queer.听

鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping that this is going to be something where we establish a network of Latinx writers and artists and lots of different folks who are interested in these particular topics, that then develop national and international programming,鈥� Rivera said.

Rivera spearheaded the event with English Associate Professor Julie Carr. The pair already have their eyes set on crossing more physical and cultural borders in the future.听

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e going to hopefully find the success of this particular event and just keep on developing it,鈥� said Rivera. 鈥淭he first goal is to locate and partner with networks who are engaging in these particular issues.鈥�

With the help of a joint grant from CU 麻豆官网鈥檚 English department and the Writing, Rhetoric, Information, Technology, Ecology Lab (), they鈥檝e made plans to bring their idea to Mexico City鈥檚 Universidad Aut贸noma Metropolitana in the spring.听

Rivera鈥檚 team will work with P茅rez y P茅rez, an Universidad Aut贸noma Metropolitana professor, to figure out what kind of programming will translate best at his institution. 听

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to go into Mexico or Sudan or Central America to their university or their art space and say we want you to do this. We want to ask them what works for you,鈥� said Rivera.

Beyond this year鈥檚 focus on migration from Latin America, CrossBorder will broaden its scope to multiple identities of immigration, including Muslim, Puritan and Anglo-Saxon migration.听

To do this, Rivera hopes to build off this upcoming event to establish partnerships with other networks that are engaging in issues surrounding migration.

鈥淭he key thing is trying to set up cross-border discussions. If we talked for example about Sudanese migration, we鈥檇 then want to connect with Sudanese scholars and artists in Sudan to talk about those issues,鈥� said Rivera. 鈥淏ecause we really want to get both sides of the border鈥攐f whatever border that may be.鈥�

No matter how many countries the series reaches, it will always have roots in 麻豆官网. Rivera and Carr envision CU 麻豆官网 as a hub for future dialogues and networking on migration. 听听

鈥淭here will always be an event here in 麻豆官网,鈥� Rivera said. 鈥淲e want 麻豆官网 to be the place where this conversation materializes, but we want to Be 麻豆官网 everywhere and bring our discussions and our scholars and our artists here on campus who are doing really interesting work into other spaces where we have not been.鈥�