This seminar is designed to introduce Border Studies students to field study methods and theory and to draw upon the particular interests of the individuals in the group. Students become active participants in community organizations and research projects on both sides of the border, working approximately 15 hours a week at their site. Readings, reflections, and a significant final paper are requirements of the course.

Field Study Sites in Tucson
Participants of the Border Studies Program have the opportunity to work at number of different organizations in Tucson, including, but not limited to:

Border Action Network
www.borderaction.org
Border Action Network works with immigrant and border communities in southern Arizona to ensure that their residents’ rights are respected, that human dignity is upheld and that the communities are healthy places to live. Students will have the opportunity to be part of community organizing and community meetings and may devote significant time to a media campaign around the trial of a Border Patrol agent accused of killing a young migrant.

Casa Maria
http://www.casamariatucson.org/index.html
Casa Maria is run by a catholic worker community located in South Tucson.  The main focus of Casa Maria is to serve individual bag lunches, daily family food bags, and hot soup and drinks every morning from 8-11:30.  They also run a shower program, have an open clothing bank, and advocate for the poor and homeless of Tucson.
Students placed at Casa Maria will work both in the morning food program as well as in developing the leadership programs and the community organizing. The director of Casa Maria is also excited to have a student work on some different organizing projects with-in the homeless and working poor communities.

Cesár Chávez Middle School
This 6-12 grade charter school has been actively involved in community issues and is at the forefront of the Tucson immigrant rights movement, especially around education. Students placed at this site may work with a teacher to plan a project or “mini-project” that could be carried out during the six-week field study.

Humane Borders
http://humaneborders.org/index.html
Humane Borders is a humanitarian organization that provides water to migrants crossing through the desert through the maintenance of approximately 70 water stations in the Southern Arizona desert. A student working at Humane Borders can do a range of different work depending on their interests. Humane Borders is a direct humanitarian aide organization, so students working at this site have the opportunity to participate in direct aid through desert water runs, when encountered aiding migrants with food, blankets and basic medical attention.  Students at Humane Borders will also have the opportunity to assist in some of the supporting work that can include; working on the Humane Borders Archive (both video and print), working on the newsletter, website management, documenting through video the work that Humane Borders does, or working on a joint Medical Examiner/U of A/Pima county project identifying migrants found in the desert. 

La Coalición de Derechos Humanos (The Human Rights Coalition) Derechos Humanos is a grassroots organization, which promotes respect for human/civil rights and fights discrimination, the militarization of the southern border region, and human rights abuses committed by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials against U.S. citizens and non-citizens alike. Derechos is one of the louder pro-immigrant rights organizations in southern Arizona, regularly organizing protests, press conferences, vigils and other events in order to expose rights abuses in the area and build support for more just immigration laws. Students placed at Derechos may contribute to the organization’s work by event planning, translating material, documenting abuses through abuse clinics, or entering data into Martus—a global database for recording human rights abuses.
www.derechoshumanosaz.net

Literacy Volunteers of Tucson
www.lovetoread.org/
Literacy Volunteers of Tucson is a non-profit organization that teaches basic literacy and English language acquisition to adults in the greater Tucson area.  LVT’s 250 volunteer tutors work with over 850 students. One-on-one tutoring sessions are held at public libraries, community centers and schools all over the city.  Students placed at LVT will work on language assessments with the students who will be starting in the English language acquisition program.  Students placed at this site will travel all over the city to visit with students at the different program sites.

No Más Muertes
(No More Deaths)
No More Deaths is a humanitarian aid organization whose mission is to end death and suffering on the U.S./Mexico border. The organization strives to accomplish this through civil initiative: the conviction that people of conscience must work openly and in community to uphold fundamental human rights. Their work embraces the Faith-Based Principles for Immigration Reform and focuses on the following themes: Direct aid that extends the right to provide humanitarian assistance; Witnessing and responding; Consciousness raising; Global movement building; and encouraging human immigration policy. Depending on their personal interests, students will also have the opportunity to work on outreach, community education, advocacy, and abuse documentation projects. http://nomoredeaths.org/ index.php?option=com_
frontpage&Itemid=1

2007 BSPers lend a hand at the No More Deaths aid post in Nogales during their comparative border excursion.

Samaritans
www.samaritanpatrol.org
Samaritans is a humanitarian aid organization formed in July 2002 in response to the increasing number of migrants dying while crossing through the desert.  Samaritans is an all-volunteer organization that conducts daylong patrols in the desert throughout the year. The central focus of Samaritans is placed on medical care for migrants, and as such, they actively seek out migrants who need medical attention.

Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault (SACASA)
www.sacasa.org
SACASA is the main crisis center serving the Tucson area.  It is also the only center in all of southern Arizona with a specialization in sexual assault assistance. The mission of SACASA is to reduce the trauma and incidence of sexual violence by providing treatment for, and promoting prevention of, sexual abuse, incest, molestation and rape.

Southside Presbyterian Church
www.southsidepresbyterian.org
Southside Church, under the leadership of Rev. John Fife, was one of the fundamental institutions in the Tucson area during the Sanctuary Movement.  The church is rooted in social activism and through a wide variety of programs, continually opens its doors to the greater community. Southside Church offers traditional worship services to the Tucson and South Tucson communities, as well as shower/food programs and a day laborer center.

"Be aware of your background, your privilege and your status as an outsider, but don’t let it keep you from entering into the community and culture. You don’t have to try to pass as Mexican or Mexican American, if you’re not, but there’s also no rule that you have to dress, talk, act, etc.. the exact same way you do at home or school." - program participant

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