Pathogens, Pests, and Policy: Environmental Control at the U.S.–Mexico Border

Mary E. Mendoza, Assistant Professor of History and Latino/a Studies, Penn State University 

When we think of the border today, we often think of walls, fences, patrols, and controlling the influx of undocumented immigrants. But the border has not always functioned to control human migration. In this talk, Mary E. Mendoza will explain the causes, development, and legacy of fence construction along the US-Mexico Divide, arguing that the border began as a project to control dynamic, nonhuman nature, and over time, transformed into a project to change the nature of human migration. As this process unfolded, the construction of the border and the construction of racial categories developed in tandem, and the environment played a critical role in this process.