Transfronterizas' Situational Leveraging of Border Identities at the U.S.-Mexico Border

• In Event: Crossing the U.S.-Mexico Border for an Education: Portrayals of Complexity and Intersectionality Among Transfronterizx Students

Abstract

Transfronterizas—women who cross the US - Mexico border in pursuit of an education— negotiate marginalized identities. These women differ in their ways of dealing with racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression that influence their sociocultural interactions with the world around them. Drawing on intersectionality, this paper examines how transfronterizas make sense of these identities and the varying degrees of advantages and disadvantages that they encounter as authorized border crossers. The overarching aim of this work is to examine how participants navigated these identities in their personal lives, in the classroom, and while crossing the border. Moreover, this study highlights the ways that transfronterizas strategically ‘deploy’ certain identities for the purpose of achieving desired outcomes or avoiding disadvantageous situations.

Author

• Maribel Santoyo, The University of Texas at El Paso