United States - Mexico Border Issues
For more resources and updated links, go see Victor Carmona's 2010 presentation.
Resources from the January 30, 2006 Presentation
Speaker Victor Carmona’s Presentation
Border Workshop
Web Resources
Border Studies Curriculum
20 Ready-To-Use Lesson Plans For the Secondary Classroom
http://www.nmsu.edu/~bsc/
Border, The
Companion site to the PBS series examining contemporary life along the US-Mexico border. Features a timeline, morphing map, forum, and personal stories.
www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder
Border PACT Network
Fostering change in the US-Mexico borderland, in collaboration with border institutions of higher education.
www.borderpact.org
Bordering the Future
Explores issues concerning the US-Mexico border.
www.window.state.tx.us/border/border.html
Borderlands Encyclopedia, The
Educational resource on contemporary US-Mexico border issues.
www.utep.edu/border
Borderlands Information Center (BIC)
Central clearinghouse and referral center for information about the Texas-Mexico border region.
www.bic.state.tx.us
Center for Inter-American and Border Studies
Involved with research, outreach, and education, in the border region of El Paso-Juarez, in the border region of Mexico and the US, and in the Americas generally.
www.utep.edu/cibs
Corruption at the Gates
Two-part series from NPR's All Things Considered, which examines the culture of drug money and corruption along the US-Mexico border.
www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/sept/border_corruption
Forgotten Americans, The
PBS documentary about the people who live in Las Colonias, shanty towns and rural communities within 150 miles of the US - Mexico Border.
www.pbs.org/klru/forgottenamericans
Frontera Norte Sur
A monthly report on the borderlands of North Central Mexico.
www.nmsu.edu/~frontera
Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/
TIME.com: The New Frontier
Special report focusing on the evolving social and political climate surrounding the border. Includes in-depth articles and photo galleries.
www.time.com/time/covers/1101010611
Web Resources - Kellogg Institute
http://kellogg.nd.edu/outreach/resources.html
Article
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=276d83df01d39ad4aab005ece5989331
Videos
For a list of videos available at the Kellogg Institute, see
http://kellogg.nd.edu/outreach/vinventory.shtml
Beyond the Border (Más Allá de la Frontera)
PBS Documentary
http://www.pbs.org/itvs/beyondtheborder/story.html
Over the past decade, thousands of Latinos seeking a better life have migrated to Kentucky, finding low-paying jobs in the tobacco, manufacturing and horseracing industries. However, as these Latino communities have swelled, so too has the xenophobia and discrimination they face.
Beyond the Border traces the painful transition made by four sons in a Mexican family as they leave behind their parents and sisters and struggle to overcome cultural, class and language barriers in Kentucky. By following the Ayala brothers as they leave their home in Michoacan, Mexico, and relocate to the Bluegrass Region, the story explores a range of complexities surrounding the immigration experience, including responsibility to family, community and culture. The documentary traces each man's individual and collective journey. Initially, the film focuses on the two younger brothers, Marcelo and Horacio, and their adjustment to living in Kentucky. The second part focuses on Gonzalo, the eldest, who has had what he calls "a very hard life" and whose sense of self-worth has been strained by alcoholism. The documentary is rounded out by Juan, who left at age14 in order to support his parents and younger brothers and sisters, and now has his own children.
Avoiding pathos and victimization, Beyond the Border humanizes the immigrant experience. The way the US-Mexico border is policed and the effects of economic and racial discrimination on Mexican immigrants are other themes explored in the program.
A Day Without a Mexican (1998)
Directed by Sergio Arau
Running Time: 28 minutes
Available at Amazon.com
One day California wakes up and not a single Latino is left in the state. They have all inexplicably disappeared. Chaos, tragedy, and comedy quickly ensue. (1998 version recommended over the 2004 longer film)
Dying to Live: A Migrant’s Journey (2005)
Documentary, written and directed by Daniel Groody
Running Time: 33 minutes
Dying to Live is a profound look at the human face of the migrant. It explores who these people are, why they leave their homes and what they face in their journey. Drawing on the insights of Pulitzer Prize winning photographers, theologians, church and congressional leaders, activists, musicians and the immigrants themselves, this film explores the places of conflict, pain and hope along the US-Mexico border. It is a reflection on the human struggle for a more dignified life and the search to find God in the midst of it all.
The Gatekeeper (2002)
Directed by John Carlos Frey
Running Time:
Adam Fields is a rage-filled US Border Patrol Agent who often crosses the line in his job. A member of a vigilante group, Fields decides to go undercover with a hidden camera and cross with a group of undocumented immigrants. His plan goes awry, however, when the group is forced to work for a drug ring. Suddenly, Fields realizes that he has more in common with the migrants and their search for home, family and freedom than he thought.
Lonestar (1996)
Directed by John Sayles
Running Time: 135 minutes
This complex and rich film by John Sayles stars Chris Cooper as the contemporary sheriff of a Texas border town still under the sway of his late, legendary lawman father (Matthew McConaughey, seen in flashbacks). The discovery of a skeleton and crusted-over badge--buried some 40 years--initiates an investigation into an old crime no one wants to talk about but which will determine for Cooper's character, once and for all, various truths about his father's life. Sayles ingeniously sets this mystery against the backdrop of a developing, multicultural community losing its economic base while haggling over a history of racism. The overall effect is of a complicated American tragedy mitigated by the possibility of personal redemption. A terrific experience.
Books
Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border
by Luis Alberto Urrea
Border People: Life and Society in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
By Oscar J. Martinez
Songs
“Somos Mas Americanos” by Enrique Valencia
Album: Tigres del Notre
