The Fence and the River: Culture and Politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border

The U.S.-Mexico border has not only been the site of volatile debates, most recently prompted by migration policies and NAFTA, but it has also been a source of artistic inspiration. In The Fence and the River, Claire Fox offers an extensively illustrated study that asks how the art produced about this particular region -- from picture postcards to films and performances -- reflects political and economic transformations occurring worldwide.

Starting with a discussion of photography and film about the Mexican Revolution, The Fence and the River traces how this renowned border has been represented in twentieth-century art and popular culture. Among the other literary and artistic efforts Fox explores are Mexican novels and films about border crossing, images of the fence and the river in Chicano/a art and documentary video, border-crossing performance art, and the futuristic border of speculative fiction. Finally, the author examines the work of political activists along the border and the writing of U.S. and Mexican intellectuals.

Interweaving literary and artistic representations, contemporary political debates, and an international perspective, The Fence and the River brings an exciting interdisciplinary approach to border studies.