This project explores the impacts of the creation of the Mexico-U.S. border and its increased fortification over time. The geographic focus of my research is southeast San Diego County in California and northeast Baja California on the Mexican side. This is Kumeyaay territory, which was first bisected by the border following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. And over the past 30 years, Kumeyaay and other borderlands residents have experienced the increasing fortification and militarization of the border, including border walls, more Border Patrol agents, changing border crossing requirements, surveillance towers, and more. This research privileges the perspectives of borderlands residents in order to understand the impacts of border fortification on the rural communities and ecosystems that span both sides of the political boundary.

You can watch a video I created about representations of the borderlands and the associated impacts of border fortification here.