The Border: Race, Politics and Health in Modern Mexico (Course Instructor: Gabriela Soto Laveaga)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2018
Why does the Mexico-U.S. border continue to be a space for debate and controversy? This course examines how the creation of the U.S.-Mexico border in 1848 shaped modern Mexican society from the nineteenth century to our present. For many, the border served (and serves) as a protective barrier from poverty, violence, and, especially, disease. By the early twentieth century many Mexican bodies were perceived as “alien,” “illegal,” and in need of patrolling. Yet these descriptions were also used by Mexican politicians to describe and isolate groups such as Indigenous and Chinese within Mexico. By examining, for example, Mexican public health campaigns, response to epidemics, and how Mexican ideas of race and health played out within Mexico we can better understand the U.S.-Mexico border today.