Chamisa
Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of the Greater Southwest is sponsored by the Southwest Hispanic Research Institute (SHRI) at the University of New Mexico. The arts of the southwest region are abundant, diverse, and often blur the boundaries between categories normally accepted as defining the structural hierarchies of the art world. As these forms change, they enrich and redefine the cultural landscape. The journal seeks to capture the dynamic ways that the creative arts in this region have developed and continue to advance over time and in relation to the diverse composition of its communities.
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Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of the Greater Southwest
Volume 5
Call for Submissions
Deadline: September 30, 2026
Theme: Art and Activism across Communities in the Southwest
Nearly half a century ago, Dolores Huerta coined the phrase “¡Sí se puede!” during César Chavéz’s twenty-five-day fast in Phoenix, Arizona. She used the chant to inspire farmworkers to keep fighting for fair wages and better working conditions and to empower others to make a difference. The phrase drew widespread political and media attention during the U.S. immigration reform protests and heightened awareness of and respect for all workers.
Fast forward to 2026. We now find ourselves confronting many of the same struggles. Today, political rhetoric fueled by racist, misogynist, xenophobic, and homophobic ideologies divide our communities. Given the current climate, we ask: how can we meaningfully respond to nationalistic imperatives that threaten our notions of inclusivity, civil rights, and safety across historically marginalized, exploited, and oppressed populations in this country? More importantly, how can art, storytelling, and performance foster connection, action, and resistance?
Chamisa invites literary, visual, and performance-based works that explore the intersections of dialogue, political action, and the arts. We seek submissions that challenge actions and representations that promote fear and hate and that propose, instead, pathways for cultivating alliances and productive actions across communities. We welcome creative works and academic articles that document, explore, and contribute to community-building, activism and resistance and that engage with questions such as the following:
- How do we navigate and resolve deep divides using artistic and literary expression?
- What roles does storytelling play in fostering empathy and productive action?
- How can creativity and memory illuminate the advantages and challenges of difference?
- In what ways can artists, writers, and performers collaborate to cultivate civil discourse and meaningful engagement?
- How does creative practice contribute to survivance, activism, and joy among our communities?
- How can the arts— ranging from literary to visual to performative— serve as tools for political and social change today?
We encourage submissions in all genres, including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, essays/articles, reviews, editorials, hybrid forms, visual arts, and performance documentation that speak to these questions. Chamisa is committed to amplifying voices from New Mexico and across the greater Southwest, but we welcome perspectives from beyond the region that resonate with our mission.
Join us in considering how art, literature, and performance can serve to not only reflect but also to imagine and work toward a different world where dignity is centered and guaranteed for all human beings, all living things, and the planet itself.
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To view the Chamisa online journal please visit:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/chamisa/
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