Borders and Migration: Historical Memory and Human Rights
Roxanne Lynn Doty, Associate Professor, School of Government Politics and Studies
Recent events in the state of Arizona and reactions across the country have once again catapulted the issue of immigration to the forefront of the national consciousness and prompted statements and resolutions from local, national, and international bodies, including university officials and faculty bodies. This research cluster seeks to bring the present in dialogue with the past, exploring how shifting borders have reclassified communities and altered definitions of citizenship, and have contributed to integrated economies and an increasingly mobile workforce; and how these shifts also have mobilized contestations over what constitutes legitimate historical narratives about the nation and its boundaries. We propose to engage these key themes by historicizing the many border crossings by people, capital, and the U.S. government, and exploring how contemporary and historical policies and practices of policing geopolitical borders as well as historical narratives have impacted communities in the past and present.