PHCG4060 · Schiller Institute

Borderlands & Health Justice: Migration, Environment, and Indigenous Rights

This experiential learning course focuses on the borderlands between the U.S. and Mexico, cutting across traditional indigenous lands. We examine the history, politics, policies, and challenges of the border and the borderlands region. Students employ a social justice lens to understand histories of nation-building; migration and immigration challenges; local Native rights issues; food, biodiversity and sustainability challenges; rural health delivery; the effects of extractive industry and the possibilities of restorative economy; and models of liberatory education honoring indigenous histories and knowledges. This course is built around a REQUIRED, PLACE-BASED TRAVEL EXPERIENCE OVER MARCH SPRING BREAK (typically 8 days from Friday Saturday) in the trinational space of the Sonoran Desert and Sky Islands region of southern Arizona, northern Sonora, Mexico, and the Tohono Oodham Nation. Students explore local landscapes and learn through dialogue with community partners. While we consider historical and contemporary challenges of the region, we also learn about innovative models of response based in local organizing. Ultimately, students apply a root-cause analysis to consider health in context, community challenges and assets, and the importance of community-driven models of development and justice. Finally, students will practice leadership skills for social change by developing and implementing an action plan to advance health justice in the context of their course learning.This is a Dept. Permission course. Please contactpublichealth@bc.edufor more information. The mandatory trip component of this course carries an additional travel and program fee of approximately $2,000. Financial assistance may be available.