Week 7: Saludos from Itzel

Saludos a todos! My name is Itzel Garcia-Mejia. I am a junior at Oberlin College where I am pursuing a double major in History and Latin American Studies with a minor in Politics. We have just completed our first week living in Nogales, Sonora. The week before that we were in Mexico City. We drove down in Hermosillo after a sad goodbye to our wonderful host families in Tucson and caught a plane to Mexico City. After a few changes to our itinerary as a result of the manifestations taking place in the Zocalo, we spent three full days sightseeing and conversing with various people about Mexico´s political and migratory history. Our guide was Frida Gaytan who participated in the 1999 student protests at the UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) –in addition to showing us around the city she spoke to us about her experiences during the 1999 student movement as we sat on the grass at the UNAM.
We went to the Frida Kahlo museum in Coyoacan and to the top of La Torre Latinoamericana and looked out over the city. We spoke to anthropologist Percy Betanzos who gave a lecture on migration patterns within Mexico and how it has changed as a result of NAFTA (el Tratado de Libre Commercio). We also spoke to lawyers from PRODESC (Proyecto de Derechos Economicos, Sociales, y Culturales) who discussed the role of multinationals in workers’ rights violations.
The excursion to Mexico City fed straight into our four day Fall Break in which most of the students stayed in the city. Then we flew back to Hermosillo, drove back to Nogales, and arrived at La Casa de la Misericordia, which we visited during our Tucson Orientation Week, for our Nogales Orientation. This two day orientation included a very brief contrast tour where the coordinators pointed out the various maquilas and neighborhoods, a safety talk by the coordinator of our Nogales housing, and a tour of the new UA facilities in Nogales, AZ where we´ll be having class every Friday. The orientation wrapped up with a reception at a salon de fiestas in Nogales where we met our host families. The following day we had our first meeting with Alberto Morackis and Guadalupe Serrano about the altar that we will help design and build for el Dia de los Muertos.
The program has exposed us all to a number of influential groups and individuals related to the effects of NAFTA on Mexico—hopefully at the end of the semester, our Policy Proposal papers (which we just found out will be presented to students at UPN and to an ESL class in Cochise County) will spark substantive discourse about what can be done in the areas of international trade and immigration. As the elections and the term of a new president approach, dialoguing about these very issues becomes even more important. I can´t think of a better timing for this material.

Week 5: Reflections from Penina

My name is Penina Eilberg-Schwartz, and I'm a senior at Oberlin College. I study history and have been interested in border regions for a long time, but this is my first real experience at the Mexico-U.S. border itself.

I have been working with the Pima County Interfaith Council, a child of Saul Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation. With them I've been doing a lot of voter registration stuff and organizing in churches with large Spanish-speaking and immigrant populations.

When we get to Nogales, I will start working with En Común, a microfinance organization there. I cannot wait.

Today I was wandering around in Tucson's downtown with some friends, doing interviews for a mapping project we were assigned in our Globalization, Migration, and Human Rights course. We were asking whether people thought of Tucson as a border town, and we got a pretty wide variety of answers, but I knew what I thought by the end of the first week here.

This is what I wrote then:
"Tucson is most definitely a border city. I have evidence!
There is El Tiradito, a little shrine on a small corner to those who have died in the desert. There is a vigil that meets there every week.
There is, of course, all the Spanish you hear walking around, and the bright colors and the Sonoran hotdog stands.
There is the story that my friend told me about when she first went to find her field study site. She walked into the office and there was a man there, tired-looking with a huge gash on his leg. It was from a cactus. He had been abandoned by his coyote in the desert.
There is the story of Reverend John Fife and the Sanctuary movement that was located here and hid Central American refugees from the Dirty Wars who the U.S. was deporting (in violation of its own refugee law.)
And there is the drive down to Nogales and the way the wall appears, cutting through a hill. And the art you see on the wall when you get to the Nogales side.
Finally, there is the conclusion that many people, of diverse voices, have presented to us: the U.S. fence-building policy has funneled migrant traffic into the Sonoran desert, a dangerous place that is known to kill. In fact, in the document starting this policy, deterrence was acknowledged as part of the "hold the line" strategy. They will die, and then they will stop coming. The thing is, they have not stopped coming."

Last night Michael (my host father who is a photographer and involved member of several local humanitarian aid organizations) took me to a dinner with a filmmaker who is working on a documentary about deaths in the desert. When we asked him how he got started with this, his answer was long, but eventually he said, "America is asleep." Parts of Tucson are asleep too, but people are dying very near here, at least in part because of U.S. policy. And people are living here too, and it is hard. The militarization of the border and the U.S. owned companies in Mexico create seriously contaminated air and water, making the border area the highest incidence of cancer in the country, of floods that have broken through parts of the wall that are built like dams in the desert. But of course, there is also vibrancy here and someone who we talked to today on the first day of classes who studies border culture and folklife reminded us that there is beauty here too. There are Santos and Milagros and prayers.

It is strange to see beauty here, though. When we were in Nogales, everyone who lived there talked about how ugly it was. We thought it was kind of beautiful. I think maybe because we find it honest—this is the place (one of the places) that makes the lives we lead possible. This is a true place, a behind-the-scenes place.

So coming to the end of my time in Tucson, I'm looking forward to a place where the border will make itself even more clearly seen, and I will continue to struggle to find my place in all of it.

Week 4: Update from Lou

¡Bienvenidos a Tucson! Me llamo Luís y soy un estudiante de La Programa de Estudios Fronterizos, 2008. I am a junior at Albion College and a History and Spanish double major. I grew up in Ann Arbor and work at the University of Michigan Hospital during summer breaks.

Choosing to study abroad with the Border Studies Program was a difficult decision for me. I often imagined my off campus experience taking place in Spain, not within the US. Although, when it came time to decide, I chose what I felt would be the most challenging experience. The Border Studies Program focuses on immigration issues, border policy, and the effects of that policy. That means when we go out and experience the border reality, we are not backpacking, sightseeing, or partying. On the contrary, we “rough” it for the benefit of a new perspective. That principle of challenging students rings especially true for my experience so far.

My initial host family placement has been amazing! I’ve found that almost everyone I talk to really enjoys who they are staying with. A great example of this is food. For at least half of the participants, what type of food they eat matters. My host family is well-suited to my needs: my host dad is a great chef, and what he cannot cook, he takes me out to a restaurant to try new things. The best example I can think of is our weekly trips for Sonora style hot dogs. Not only do we all enjoy delicious hot dogs wrapped in bacon, but my host family takes 90 minutes out of their day to ask me about school, life, and what is stressing me out. They even offer great advice: skip school more and they’ll take me on random trips to Phoenix to unwind. I didn’t take their advice (lol!), but I always feel too full, and that makes for a happy kid.

If I’m not in class or at home, I’m probably working on my field internship with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). This internship is worth 5 credit hours and requires 15 hours per week. At my internship, I work closely with conducting surveys on the new E-verify law. I’ve conducted at least 25 interviews and have heard a wide range of opinions on the issue of immigration. This internship has given me the opportunity to get real, hands on experience with the immigration issue on the border. What more could I ask for?

This last week was very challenging. The Altar trip pushed everyone, and we needed a weekend for some R&R. I was able to catch up on my homework and celebrate Mexican Independence Day on Saturday. I even participated in specific events to celebrate on Sunday by dancing and eating traditional foods. You are what you eat! And I am happy!

With all the events I was able to participate in this weekend, I almost forgot I was abroad! I am excited for the Mexico City trip in a couple of weeks, and I hope that this weekend was taken advantage of by everyone here. I can’t wait to get up early tomorrow and start working out again. Life is good.

Lou