188155 Bordering on the future: Mobility, migration and the U.S.-Mexico border context for public health

Monday, October 27, 2008: 12:35 PM

Josiah M. Heyman, PhD , Sociology and Anthropology, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX
Howard Campbell, PhD , Sociology and Anthropology, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX
     
The U.S.-Mexico border is both a line through which long-distance movements of migrants, commodities (including drugs), and capital occur, and a home to millions of people in two paired regions, one in Mexico and one in the United States. Within this dynamic zone, people maneuver between the economies, societies, and cultures of two nations. This makes the borderlands distinctively transnational and transcultural, and presents a complex and critical backdrop for the epidemiologic study of specific public health issues. Border regions may represent especially high risk locations deserving of heightened HIV surveillance and binational cooperation.

Learning Objectives:
(1) Increase understanding of complex cultural dynamics characteristic of border situations; (2) Delineate the effects of spatial mobility and migration on social relations and cultural frameworks; (3) Develop research and assessment methods suited to the complexity of border contexts.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: 25 years of research on the U.S.-Mexico border, including three books and over 50 scholarly articles and book chapters.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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