Borderlands Reporting Course Returns with Trip to Nogales

Students in JOUR 473: Reporting in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands recently traveled to Nogales, Arizona, meeting with local journalists, community organizers and residents while learning about the challenges of reporting in a region that is often the subject of national news coverage.

The visit gave students a chance to see the border wall firsthand, talk with people who live and work in the community and learn more about the issues they will encounter throughout the semester.

The course is taught by University of Arizona School of Journalism Assistant Professor of Practice Kendal Blust, who has worked as a newspaper and public radio reporter in the Arizona-Sonora borderlands for more than a decade. It is the first time the course has been offered since 2023.

The university’s location in Southern Arizona gives students an opportunity to study the border from close range and cover the region with greater depth, Blust said.

“Students learn the specific contexts and valuable skills related to reporting in this region, which is nationally relevant,” Blust said. “It’s a very hands-on class where students interact with communities and meet people living and working in the borderlands.”

The class began its visit at the Nogales International, where the newspaper’s staff spoke with students about their work covering Nogales and the surrounding region.

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Students then saw the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry and walked through the Morley Avenue area, visiting local businesses and community spaces such as La Línea Art Studio, the Wittner Museum and 0S3 Movement Youth Center. While there, the group heard from business owners and Santa Cruz County Justice Project advocates about the economic, political and environmental issues impacting Nogales residents.

Prior to enrolling in JOUR 473, School of Journalism senior Benjamin DePue was first introduced to border reporting in a previous class, where he wrote about Humane Borders, a nonprofit that maintains water stations in the Sonoran Desert.

The visit to the Nogales International also gave him a different perspective on how local journalists approach stories that receive national attention.

“We discussed things we’ve learned about in class, but seeing the newsroom and hearing from people directly involved is a different story,” DePue said.

DePue grew up in the Tucson area and was familiar with the border’s importance to Southern Arizona, but has had limited opportunities to spend time in border communities.

“I’m interested in the border for political reasons, humanitarian reasons and ecological reasons,” DePue said. “I think there are as many reasons as there are people to take a class like this.”

As part of the borderlands reporting class, students will conduct research and interviews in the region to produce essays, oral histories and in-depth reporting projects. Groups are also paired with local border reporters who will mentor them throughout the semester.

Emelia Stanley, a philosophy major from Maryland who became interested in journalism through UATV-3 and an international relations course, said the trip gave her a different view of a place she had mostly encountered through news coverage on the East Coast.

“The news that we get there about the border is not great. You mainly hear about drug trafficking as a major problem,” Stanley said. “Getting to visit this part of the border, it’s not at all what I thought it would look like.”

Talking directly with people working in the region was one of the most valuable parts of the trip, she said.

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“The highlight for me was getting to ask a lot of different professionals questions on the trip and getting to meet with those people,” Stanley said. “You’re learning from a different perspective.”

Daniela Agudelo, who is pursuing a dual master’s degree in Latin American studies and public administration, enrolled in the course to develop her storytelling and reporting skills.

A first-generation immigrant from Colombia who grew up in New York, Agudelo said the class trip has given her a different way of understanding the region and its residents.

“The stereotypes and myths behind what happens at the border is a very prevalent topic when you speak about the border outside of a border city,” Agudelo said. “The class gives us the opportunity to actually be in the community and interview community members who are experiencing and living the realities of these issues,” she said.

The Nogales trip is one of several field experiences planned for the class. Students will visit Coronado National Memorial this fall to learn about wildlife affected by border wall construction in Southern Arizona. They will also return to Nogales at the end of the semester to present their reporting and share their work with the community.

Blust said she hopes the time students spend in Nogales and other border communities will help them build relationships that inform their work.

“I hope trips like these give students a sense of community that can help them as they’re reporting to tell more interesting and complete stories about our border communities,” Blust said.