JANUARY 2003: RADIO BILINGUE'S SPECIAL PROGRAMS

STORIES FROM THE HIDDEN HOMELAND

COLONIAS: NEW AND OLD TOWNS OF THE WEST

For the first time on public radio, a Spanish-language production will take an in-depth look at the phenomenon of American shantytowns, where more than one million people live in hidden corners of the southwestern United States.

Inhabiting neighborhoods called colonias in Spanish, residents often go without adequate water, roads, sewers, telephone, and electrical service. First noticed on the U.S.-Mexico border, colonias or colonia-like communities are now found throughout the region in places like Pajarito Mesa and Tijeras Canyon just outside Albuquerque. Many residents live in mobile or manufactured homes. Far from being rental trailer parks, colonias are places where both immigrants and non-immigrants achieve home ownership, open new businesses, and form new municipalities. Sunland Park in southern New Mexico started out as a colonia and is now a growing city with a casino and community college.

Colonias: New And Old Towns of the West is a groundbreaking, English-Spanish documentary series that explores the histories, struggles and sorrows of rustic settlements in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Produced by award-winning journalist Kent Paterson, the series takes listeners on an audio tour of colonias from Arizona's Colorado River to the deserts and mesas of New Mexico and then on to the Lower Rio Grande Valley of south Texas.

Listeners will hear from residents, community activists, government officials, and distinguished academic researchers like farmworker scholar Dr. Dennis Valdes of the University of Minnesota and Dr. Peter Ward of the University of Texas, author of numerous works on U.S.-Mexico colonias.

The series is produced by Kent Paterson and edited by Joe Gardener Wessley. The Spanish programs are narrrated by KUNM News Director Marcos Martinez. A longtime reporter, Paterson is the author of The Hot Empire of Chile (Bilingual Press 2000), an investigative look at the New Mexico chile pepper industry. The book won a prestigious Southwest Book Award in 2002.

Paterson's other radio documentaries have chronicled the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexican timber wars, immigrant farm labor, and human rights.

The series was made possible in part by grants from the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities, Arizona Humanities Council, Texas Council for the Humanities, and Bread for the Journey.

For more information, call Kent Paterson at 505-277-3779 or kentnews@unm.edu.

PROGRAM SEGMENTS

Program One:
Within the past year, Tucson, Arizona, has become one of the hottest housing markets in the nation. The average median home price rose 17 percent from 2001 to 2002. The flip side of this boom is the growth of low-income "wildcat" subdivisions, or colonias, with limited services and access. Kicking off the colonias radio series, this program profiles both the desert colonias and the history of Mexican immigrant communities around Tucson and Yuma. Commentary by authors Patricia Preciado Martin and others.

Program Two: New Mexico
Colonias: New and Old Towns of the West: New Mexico - A Piece of Paradise in Trailerville. Once considered a U.S.-Mexico border phenomenon, colonias, or colonia-like communites are spreading beyond the border line and touching the outskirts of Albuquerque and other cities. This program discusses the history of southern New Mexico colonias as well as ones like Pajarito Mesa near the Duke City. Commentary by UNM Professor David Henkel and others.

Program Three: El Paso
One of the gateways of the North American Free Trade Agreement, El Paso has been mired in economic decline during the past 10 years. More than 80,000 people now live in colonia settlements around the city, including the community of Sparks, considered by some to be the "poster child" of U.S.-Mexico border colonias.

Program Four: Texas
An audio journey from the the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, considered the cradle of U.S.-Mexico border colonias to El Cenizo, Texas, where a national controversy erupted in 1999 over Spanish language use.