San Diego and Art Research Proposal

Art on the Mexico and US Border

How Art is Being Used for Social, Cultural, and Political Expression

The border between the United States and Mexico has been a focal point of a significant amounts of media attention in recent years. The newly elected US president has consistent stated his intentions to build a wall between the two countries in an overall effort to crack down on illegal immigration. In some of his acts as President, the newly elected Donald Trump has ordered increased immigration enforcement which has come in the way of mass deportations and cancelled visas from certain countries that have been associated with terrorism in the Middle East. He had previously announced that he would build a wall between the US and Mexico and even went as far as claiming that he would make Mexico pay for its construction; a contemptuous claim that has worked to polarize many political groups, in both foreign and domestic areas.

The border between the US and Mexico has not always been a static fixture in either countries landscape. In fact, the 1821 US-Mexico border was rather dynamic and vague in its establishment when Mexico declared its independence from Spain as the border was never officially surveyed; however, the border at this time stretched all the way from Oregon, to Louisiana, and even as far north as Wyoming (Schwartz, 2014). There are some families that have lived on family land through this transition; for example, a family estate in the US southwest could have some generations of Mexicans living on it, and then later being in US territory -- all while being on the same exact location.

Many people fail to realize that it wasn't entirely too long ago when the San Diego and Tijuana border was all in Mexican territory (Wilso, 2010). Therefore, it at least one aspect, the drawing of national borders seems like an arbitrary phenomenon that is not necessarily linked to the culture and heritage of the people that inhabit the land. Even though the two San Diego and Tijuana share different national allegiances in the modern age, there are many commonalities that are still readily apparent based on a shared heritage. This heritage is likely most apparent in the expression of art that helps to unite the peoples on both sides of the border culturally, socially, politically and even economically. This analysis will provide a brief introduction in the ways in which art provides this unifying effect.

Building Bridges

Whenever people are separated into groups, it can sometimes have the effect of producing certain types of in-group vs. out-group behaviors. Although many parts of the Southwest US were once part of Mexico, the youth on both sides of the border that currently divides these countries may not have an inherent appreciation of the shared cultural nuances that exist. One way in which art is being used is to help "build bridges" between elementary school students in San Diego and in Tijuana (Brouillette & Jennings, 2010). By allowing these students to interact and mesh together in positive ways, it helps take some of the nationalistic sentiments that have been associated with the US/Mexico relations and help to mitigate many of the xenophobic tendencies that might otherwise emerge in children who are not yet able to appreciate the political complexities that helped shape the current border status.

Even though school children may not aptly understand the effects of a national border and all that entails, the division of these regions will be apparent for most individuals. For example, the colonial aspects of Mexico's heritage are more prominent that on the US side of the border given the fact that the US went through its own territorial acquisitions (Lee, 2012). Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that the US territory would be less inclined…