Beyond the Border

Catalog description

In this course we will consider the emergence and transformation of the U.S.-Mexico border, as much as an idea as a physical boundary or structure. Our explorations will be far-ranging: from Spanish conquest and indigenous resistance struggles, to contemporary debates over migration and border control; from the dynamics of the borderlands in prior centuries, to transnational migrant life, and modern and contemporary attempts to police and sever such connections through the walling of the border, and through the deportation regime. Every border has at least two sides, and in fact multiple sides, considering the diversity of groups and how they experience it. Through course materials, and films relating to the border by both US and Mexican filmmakers, students will consider how different groups-Indigenous, Mexican, from the United States-and different classes and stations-rural and urban, working class and businesspeople, social activists and government officials-encounter the border and each other in profoundly different ways, that have had a deep impact on border policies in both the United States and Mexico. This course fulfills Dietrich College's "Perspectives on Justice and Injustice" general education requirement.