The journal Administrative Theory and Praxis awarded Christian and co-author Rosa Castillo Crewson of Georgetown University the 2021 Outstanding Article Award for the research essay titled, "Administración pública de nepantla: Transforming public administrators from ‘gatekeepers’ to ‘border crossers.’" 
 
The essay went to print in 2021 (delayed by the pandemic).


The research essay explores how Gloria Anzaldúa’s (1987) La Frontera/Borderlands theory can enable the field of public administration with conceptual and practical resources for responding to complex political problems such as structural racism in housing and other sectors. Specifically, this approach takes on problems typically left unresolved and even exacerbated using conventional administrative approaches. The new paradigm proposes strategies for critically analyzing us/them dichotomies and either/or thinking in governance of physical spaces and social structures.

In the essay, Rosa and Christian apply Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera theoretical framework as a guide to public administrators who constituents often experience as “gatekeepers” to government’s power. To show the distinct advantages of this approach they discuss the state’s role in creating borders that result in intentional racial discrimination in housing policy, and in response, Rosa and Christian offer “administración pública de nepantla” / “public administration in-between” as a new paradigm for partially redressing longstanding structural racism, among other issues.

The essay aims to transform administrators by showing the ethical and strategic benefits of approaching problem solving as “border crossers” who prioritize bridging structural borders, translating technical policy language for constituents, and respecting the role of constituents as partners in governance.