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Betwixt and Between/Hosts and Guests: Border Studies and Religion Dr. Olivia T. Ruiz, El Colegio de La Frontera Norte Borders and border regions have been the subject of debate by a wide range of voices around the globe. In the United States, the Mexico-US border, both as a place and as a metaphor, has galvanized much of this discussion and nurtured a rich exchange about what borders are and might be. The result has been a growth in border studies. Although an area of inquiry largely populated by academics in the social sciences and humanities, journalists, and activists of various stripes, recent debates in border studies have brought to light the importance of religion in developing alternative approaches to these regions and their study. To religion we owe ideas about "intercultural dialogue" and the notion of "hosts and guests," for example, which are fast becoming part of the language about borders. The purpose of this course is to examine the relationship between borders, border studies and religion. More specifically we will look at the role religion plays in: the reproduction, maintenance and transformation of borders; the process of border crossing; the construction of identity in multicultural border spaces; and, drawing on the case of the US and Mexico, the rise of alternative paradigms for addressing key issues affecting border regions.
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