Geohumanities & Curatorial Work
Geohumanities refers to transdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of geography and the humanities. Stemming from my interests in social theory and border cultures, it incorporates my most recent explorations in research and teaching, and includes curatorial work in border art and culture. The entire ethos in these transdisciplinary spaces is devoted to crossing boundaries of many kinds: linguistic, geopolitical, artistic, theoretical, philosophical and methodological. This hybrid milieu has been an exhilarating and mind-opening journey, and is one reason I am devoting more time to art and cultural projects. Read more.
Geohumanities
Books
Michael Dear, Border Witness: Reimagining the US Mexico Borderlands Through Film, UC Press, 2023.
Dear, J. Ketchum, S. Luria and D. Richardson (eds.) Geohumanities: Art, History & Text at the Edge of Place. Routledge, 2011.
Dear, G. Leclerc (eds.), Postborder City: Cultural Spaces of Bajalta California. Routledge, 2003.
Articles
The Border Film Genre
The term ‘genre’ is generally understood to refer to types of film that share common characteristics relating to theme and style of filmmaking.
Michael Dear’s Top 15 Border Films
Here is a list of my 15 favorite border films in chronological order, including many “classics” of the genre. Most films are easily accessible, but some might require a deeper search.
Practicing Geohumanities
M.Dear. GeoHumanities, 2015, 1(1), 1-16.
What Are the Urban Humanities?
A.Cascardi and M. Dear. BOOM, A Journal of California, 2016, 6(3), 5-10.
Film, Architecture, Politics: A conversation between Amos Gitai and Michael Dear with Marie-José Sanselme
Michael Dear. UC Berkeley CED Frameworks, Fall 2017.
For a complete list of articles, refer to the full CV
Curatorial Work
Califas: Art of the US-Mexico Borderlands / El Arte de la Zona Fronteriza México-Estados Unidos September 11 to November 16, 2018, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA. Michael Dear and Ron Rael, Co-Curators
Tracing the Line / Trazando La Lineá May to July, 2012, Centro Estatal de las Artes in Mexicali, B.C. Hector Manuel Lucero and Michael Dear, Co-Curators
Mixed Feelings: Art and Culture in the Post-Border Metropolis / Sentimientos Contradictorios: Arte y cultura en la metropolis Posfronteriza September 4 to December 7, 2002. USC Fisher Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. Michael Dear and Gustavo Leclerc, Co-Curators
Articles
Califas: El Arte de la Zona Fronteriza México – Estados Unidos
Michael Dear y Ron Rael. Catálogo de exposiciones, August 1, 2018
Califas: Art of the US-Mexico Borderlands
Michael Dear and Ronald Rael, Exhibit Catalog, August 1, 2018
For a complete list of articles, refer to the full CV