Social Justice in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region

Mark Lusk is professor of social work and associate dean of health sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso. A Latin Americanist and international development specialist, he has worked and lived throughout Latin America and other regions of the developing world. He was Fulbright Scholar in Peru and a decade later in Brazil. Kathleen Staudt is professor of political science at the University of Texas at El Paso. A well-known scholar on border studies, Kathy has written and edited 16 books on the US Mexico border, women's rights and violence against women. Eva Moya is assistant professor of social work at the University of Texas at El Paso. She has worked extensively in research on border health disparities and infectious disease.

The U.S.-Mexico Border Region is among the poorest geographical areas in the United States. The region has been long characterized by dual development, poor infrastructure, weak schools, health disparities and low-wage employment. More recently, the region has been affected by the violence associated with a drug and crime war in Mexico. The premise of this book is that the U.S.-Mexico Border Region is subject to systematic oppression and that the so-called social pathologies that we see in the region are by-products of social and economic injustice in the form of labor exploitation, environmental racism, immigration militarism, institutional sexism and discrimination, health inequities, a political economy based on low-wage labor, and the globalization of labor and capital. The chapters address a variety of examples of injustice in the areas of environment, health disparity, migration unemployment, citizenship, women and gender violence, mental health, and drug violence. The book proposes a pathway to development.

This book provides a better understanding of life in this region. It examines a variety of examples of injustice and proposes a pathway to development.

Addresses the anti-immigrant sentiment and movement currently spreading throughout the USA

Section I. Introduction and Conceptual Framework.- Chapter 1. Social Justice in the U.S. - Mexico Border Region: A Conceptual Framework; Mark Lusk, Kathleen Staudt, & Eva Moya.- Section II. Critical Perspectives on the Border Region.- Chapter 2. Political Economy and Social Justice in the US Mexico Border Region; Josiah Heyman.- Chapter 3. The Violence of Citizenship on the U.S.-Mexico Border: How Citizenship Creates Exclusion and Inclusion; Tony Payan.- 4. Women, Gender and Violence in La Frontera; Kathleen Staudt.- Chapter 5. A Theological Perspective on Social Justice in the U.S.- Mexico Border Region; John Stowe.- Section III. Problems and Opportunities on the U.S. - Mexico Border.- Chapter 6. Housing, Colonias and Social Justice on the Border; Guillermina Gina Núñez-Mchiri.- Chapter 7. Achieving Health Equity and Social Justice; Nuria Homedes.- Chapter 8. Mental Health Disparities and Social Justice; Griselda Villalobos & Arthur Islas.- Chapter 9. Border Health: Health Inequities, Social Determinants and the Case of Tuberculosis and HIV; Eva Moya, Oralia Loza & Mark Lusk.- Chapter 10. Environmental Injustice in the U.S. - Mexico Border Region; Sarah E. Grineski & Patricia Juarez.- Chapter 11. Migration and Discrimination: The Social Condition of Mexican Migrants who are Repatriated to Ciudad Juárez; Irasema Coronado & Héctor Padilla.- Section IV - Moving Forward: Steps in Achieving Border Justice.- Chapter 12. Education Policies: Standardized Testing, English-Language Learners, and Border Futures; Pauline Dow & Kathleen Staudt.-Chapter 13. Border Challenges and Ethnic Struggles for Social Justice: Latina/o Communities under Siege; Rosalía Solórzano Torres.- Chapter 14. Social Justice in the U.S. - Mexico Border Region: Implications for Policy and Practice; Mark Lusk, Kathleen Staudt & Eva Moya.- Afterword; Monsignor Arturo Bañuelas.