Courses

Orientation: The Program begins with an on-site orientation which introduces students to the border area, to the many aspects of the Program, and to the families they will be living with. Orientation culminates with a fiesta in Chamizal Park!

Globalization, The Border and Human Rights (5 hrs):
Globalization is the central frame for the course: the process of political, social, and cultural transformations generated by economic changes over the past 30 years. This course will examine the process of globalization generally but pay special attention to the specific impacts of this process on the US-Mexico border. Additionally, the topic of human rights as it relates to globalization and the border will be a key topic discussed. This course is taught by the Resident Director.

Perspectives On The Border (3 hrs):
This course treats selected modern themes as manifested in the border region, such as population movements, the arts, economic change, identity, sociopolitical structures and events, health, the environment, international relations, borders, and technology. This exploration of current events in the border region will feature guest speakers and numerous field trips to sites in El Paso, Juárez, and New Mexico.  This course is taught (in Spanish) by the Resident Director at UACJ. Students will be required to demonstrate appropriate language proficiency to enroll in this class.

An elective taken at either UTEP or UACJ

Spanish Language or Border Related Elective Course at UTEP (3 hrs): Participants chose either a Spanish class or an elective which deals with border topics. In past programs, students have taken the following classes: Intermediate Spanish, The Border in Mexican Film, Mexican American History, Chicano Film, Contemporary Mexican Culture, The Mexican Revolution, Border Consciousness, Special Topics in International Relations, and Chicanos in American Thought. These courses are taught by faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Students enrolled in an elective at UTEP will begin the program with a three-week intensive Spanish course.

OR

Border Related Elective Course at UACJ (3 hrs): Students will be required to demonstrate a certain level of proficiency in Spanish before being allowed to enroll in an elective at UACJ. These electives are taught by faculty at the University Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez
Students enrolled in an elective at UACJ will have the option of taking the three-week intensive Spanish course.

Identities, Myths, and Realities of the Border (formerly listed as Socrates Café) (2 hrs):
The Mexico-U.S. border is a place in which the historical divisions of race, class, gender, and nationality are present in ways that are more tangibly felt than they would be in the interior of either Mexico or the United States. On both sides of the geopolitical border, inhabitants constantly have to grapple with questions of legitimacy--of who belongs in a given culture and place, and who does not–in many forms. These questions become particularly salient for participants in the Border Studies Program as they seek to make the transition from “outsiders” to “insiders.” Inspired by the Socrates Café movement in which questions are more important than answers and in which members of the group teach and learn from one another in an informal setting, this course is therefore designed as a forum for students to process all they are seeing and experiencing while present in the border region.

During this course, students will also take field trips to the various organizations where their fellow students are conducting their field study.

Field Studies (5 hrs): Click here to learn more about them.