GEOG1914: The Border Crossed Us: Latinx Life and Justice in the City

For decades now Latinx immigrant rights activists have chanted, “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us” – exposing how the U.S. imposed a southern border that seized massive swaths of Mexican territory and continues to supersede its borders through military interventions across Latin America that force people to leave. The crisis we are witnessing at the U.S.-Mexico border is not new and is historically rooted in U.S. imperialism and colonialism. Yet, Latinx migrants continue to move, live and collectively organize to build a more socially just world across U.S. cities. This seminar will examine the multifaceted dimensions of the Latinx urban experience in the U.S., with a special focus on the Twin Cities context. Drawing on diverse scholarship across urban geography, Latinx Studies and feminist theory, we will explore why Latinx people are here? What challenges they face? How they make home across and beyond borders? And how they mobilize for social justice in the city? Students will have the opportunity to learn from local Latinx community-based organizations working on various issues from migrant rights, housing justice and food justice. Students will also have the opportunity to go on several field trips to learn about Latinx life and activism in the Twin Cities.

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