Border Mapping

Border Mapping: A Participatory Community Design of the Mexico-USA Borderlands explores how residents of the Juárez-El Paso borderland use participatory mapping to tell their stories and represent their community beyond the restrictive, often dehumanizing narratives imposed by institutional maps. Through community partnerships and design workshops in community centers and college classrooms, the authors collaborated with students, youth, and local artists to create counter-maps that centralize human experiences, cultural connections, and familial memories. These counter-maps challenge conventional Western, colonial mapmaking that depicts borders as rigid lines of control and division. Instead, the project reimagines the border as a space of movement, connection, and resilience. The authors argue that participatory mapping can serve as a powerful tool for resisting border violence and militarization by amplifying the lived experiences and voices of borderland residents. By sharing illustrative examples and stories, the book demonstrates how collaborative design can reframe borderland narratives, offering alternative ways to understand and represent border spaces as sites of cultural continuity, community strength, and shared humanity. Through this project, the authors argue that participatory mapping of borderland regions can counter Western, colonial representations of borders. At a time when migration narratives across the world largely focus on surveillance and oppression, participatory mapping can offer opportunities for researchers, teachers, and designers to propose different narratives that are grounded in community expertise. Through illustrative examples and stories, the authors suggest communication designers can foster collaborations with community members to (re)design borderland narratives.

Ebook available to libraries exclusively as part of the JSTOR Path to Open initiative.