Border Lives: Fronterizos, Transnational Migrants, and Commuters in Tijuana

In Border Lives, Sergio Chávez moves past Tijuana's notorious image as a hub of sex, drugs, and crime to tell the story of the diverse group of individuals who use both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border as a resource to construct their livelihoods. Based on ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews, Chávez explores the complex and often contradictory ways in which the border influences the livelihood strategies and lifestyles of border crossers. The border shapes respondents' knowledge and relationships, controls their time, and allows them to convert U.S. wages into a Mexican standard of living without losing the social and cultural comforts of Tijuana-as-home. A substantial contribution to migration and labor studies, Border Lives provides empirical grounding to theories of how geographical borders shape human action.


Author: Sergio Chávez
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 03/02/2016
Pages: 222
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780199380589

Review Citation(s):
Choice 11/01/2016

About the Author

Sergio Chávez is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rice University. He was born and raised in California's Salinas Valley.

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