Abstract

STEPHEN, Lynn. Walls and Borders: The Shifting U.S.-Mexico Relationship and Transborder Communities. Cuad. antropol. soc. [online]. 2011, n.33, pp.07-38. ISSN 1850-275X.

By necessity, this article embeds a discussion of contemporary transborder communities -communities spread out in multiple locations in the U.S. and Mexico- in the history of U.S.-Mexico during the 19th and 20th centuries. The flexibility of the U.S.-Mexico border through time and as experienced by those who carry it metaphorically with them wherever they are suggests that rather than using concepts such as "the wall" to establish limits and difference that we focus on the concept of multiple borders. I will argue that the concept of "transborder" which can include borders of coloniality, ethnicity, race, class, gender, nation, and region can help us to illuminate U.S.-Mexico relationships through time and to understand why the idea of a "wall" is so culturally and politically powerful in the U.S.

Keywords : Transborder; Immigration; Race; Place; Mexico-U.S.

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