In Mexico, border municipalities conversely show below average poverty rates when compared to the national average. On the US side, border counties have higher rates of unemployment and poverty than the rest of the country. 20 Besides these general elements, the border area is distinctive from interior regions of the United States and Mexico in terms of exposure to stressors and other contribu tors to drug use and related problems. Components of the environ ment are: the population structure that surrounds it (i.e., demographic composition), physical environment (including housing quality, population density and infrastructure), social environment (including social networks, social support and social capital), as well as formal and informal health and social services. The physical environment in which individuals live is one of the social determinants of health and the relationship between the socioeconomic inequalities of the neighborhoods and the consumption of illicit sub stances by the individuals who inhabit them has been studied for several years. 12 Drug trafficking and associated violence in the border area has been a serious concern for law enforcement and public health officials in South Texas 13 and leads to the image of border cities as places with high levels of risk for alcohol, drug use and drug use problems, 14, 15 even if the epidemiological evidence so far does not confirm this image, at least on the US side. 7, 8, 9, 10 In the US, cities closer to the Mexican border are relatively poorer than the rest of the country, 4, 11 making the proximity to cheaper drug markets appealing. 5, 6 Additionally, large border cities like Tijuana include in their population Mexicans seeking to migrate to the US return immigrants, and deported Mexican nationals, a population mix conducive to a higher prevalence of drug use than in other parts of the country. 1, 2 In Mexico, cities closer to the US are relatively more affluent compared to other parts of the country, 3, 4 and in some of these cities norms and law enforcement for substance use tend to be more liberal in order to attract foreign customers.
#Frontera de mexico y usa series#
La Frontera is the latest in the Current Issues in Anthropology series of exhibitions.The issue of drug use and its consequences in the US-Mexico border region has attracted much interest for several reasons. Mexican border in two parts, the first section currently on exhibition in the Maxwell is an introduction to the topic and the second section will be installed by January 31 in the Hibben Center, just south of the Maxwell. La Frontera y Nuevo Mexico: The border and New Mexico is an anthropological investigation of the U.S. We ask what the border means to different people, and what the border means to you. In light of recent events and the long and complicated history of the U.S.-Mexican border, La Frontera examines border and immigration policies and realities from an anthropological perspective through the use of images of the border, objects – personal and political – related to the border, and personal reflections from people and organizations who are most directly impacted by the border and immigration policy. The recent presidential election also made the border and immigration controversial issues. Because New Mexico is on the U.S.-Mexico border, the politics of that border are deeply important to the state and its people. The cultural ramifications of national borders have become an increasingly important topic in anthropology, mirroring the global importance of the topic in general.