UNM College of Arts and Sciences faculty awarded prestigious NEH grants

Two faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of New Mexico have been awarded research grants from the 2025 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) program.

Carmen Nocentelli, associate professor of English and Comparative Literature in the departments of English and Languages, Cultures and Literatures, and Anna M. Nogar, professor of Hispanic Southwest studies in the department of Spanish and Portuguese, have each been awarded $60,000, to pursue their most current research projects.

The NEH is a highly competitive and prestigious program, built on supporting the humanities across industries, including literature, history, philosophy, religion and the arts. These peer-reviewed awards provide the winners with time to write, conduct research and pursue other project related activities.

"I am delighted that the College of Arts & Sciences is home to not one, but two faculty who have earned an NEH distinction this year," said Jennifer Malat, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. "An NEH award represents years of work and scholarship and is an exceptional achievement. Carmen and Anna's scholarship exemplifies the significance and reach of humanities research within the College. Their accomplishment underscores the College's commitment to supporting research that enriches our understanding of culture, history and literature."

Nocentelli and Nogar are the only two recipients in New Mexico to receive NEH grants this cycle, joining 240 awardees nationwide.

Carmen Nocentelli - Black Legends and the Invention of Europe

Nocentelli will leverage her award to complete her book, Black Legends and the Invention of Europe, a study of early modern political propaganda. Centered on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the book draws on sources in eight languages to show how an emergent news industry wielded accounts of war crimes-both real and imagined-to draw the boundaries of European belonging.

At the heart of Nocentelli's analysis lies the Spanish Black Legend, a transnational vilification campaign that portrayed Spaniards as cruel, greedy, and tyrannical outsiders unworthy of being called European. This potent narrative, she argues, became a template for subsequent vilification campaigns, as different European peoples were demonized amid rising tensions and erupting conflicts.

"My research reveals how pervasive misinformation was during this period, with even factual reporting taking on sensational overtones that inflamed jingoism and division," said Nocentelli. "Yet paradoxically, these divisive publications ultimately had a unifying effect: they fostered a shared European identity, contributed to the development of international law, and laid groundwork for human rights. I'm grateful to the NEH for providing the time to bring this project to fruition."

Anna M. Nogar - Aurora Lucero-White Lea, 20^th Century Pan-Americanism and Indo-Hispano Folklore

Nogar's project is an analysis of 19^th-century New Mexican folklorist, Aurora Lucero-White Lea which will culminate in a book project called Aurora Lucero-White Lea (1893-1963), 20th century Pan-Americanism and Indo-Hispano Folklore.

Nogar studies Lucero-White Lea's work and the vital and often overlooked contributions she made to New Mexico folklore, which had significant impact on its Spanish-speaking citizens. Nogar shows that Lucero-White Lea's work plays a crucial role in preserving and sharing the cultural traditions of Indo-Hispano communities in New Mexico.

Lucero-White Lea championed the idea that language and cultural practices native to New Mexico were an essential part of American identity as a whole, and not a foreign culture. Lucero-White Lea's advocacy for women's suffrage led to New Mexico's ratification of the 19^th amendment to the Constitution. She was elected to positions of educational leadership in which she advocated for biliteracy and bilingualism in New Mexico's public schools.

"I look forward to continuing my research on Aurora Lucero and am grateful for this opportunity to bring the Spanish-language folklore research conducted by a native nuevomexicana scholar to a broader audience," said Nogar. "Her scholarship on New Mexican folklore documented dances, music, plays and stories. They shape how we understand these practices and the nuevomexicano communities that continue to share them today."

To learn more about Nocentelli and Nogar's work, visit their faculty profiles. For more information on the NEH programs, visit https://www.neh.gov/grants/research/awards-faculty-hispanic-serving-institutions.

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