Open Solicitation, Panel: Indeterminacy at the US-Mexico Border(lands): Reflections on Culture, Society, and the New Limits of Border Theory in Anthropology

Border theorizations permeating recent scholarship in Anthropology have allowed us to examine two processes; one that territorializes geopolitical boundaries, and a second that deterritorializes culture, the state, society, and power (Rosaldo 1989, Stephen 2007, Lugo 2008, Rosas 2012, Chavez 2017). We propose that Border Theory’s double life in Anthropology is critical to theorizing processes of (in)determinacy by balancing acts of enforcement, surveillance, and technological control of the flow of humans, bodies, and cultures across border(lands) (De Genova 2017). Based on our experiences and examination of border(lands) we tentatively conclude that there is not an outside of borders, and that we cannot understand society and culture without understanding its border making and ordering processes.

Organizers:

Sergio Lemus, Texas A&M University

Emma Newman, Texas A&M University

Roundtable Panelists:

Sergio Lemus, Texas A&M University

Emma Newman, Texas A&M University

Anthony Jerry, UC Riverside

Chair and Discussant:

Alex E. Chávez, Notre Dame