Comparative Border Studies in the School of Transborder Studies (STS) is a unique research initiative designed to bring scholars, artists, and publics together to discuss and debate issues pertaining to geopolitical and cultural borders. Consistent with STS’s goal of making the border a focal point of intellectual inquiry, the initiative will infuse categories of social science and humanities research with a consciousness about how borders and boundary crossings have shaped historical and contemporary human experience throughout the world.

The heart of Comparative Border Studies will be the events and colloquia series that explore a range of topics that include, but are not limited to: security, immigration, wealth creation and economic development, trade relations, health and environmental management, cultural production, and bicultural/binational education. We wish to share our knowledge of the U.S.-Mexican borderlands while learning from those working on borders elsewhere. The goal of Comparative Border Studies is to facilitate productive exchanges that welcome all political views and expand our understanding of the challenges facing societies and nations divided by borders.  To facilitate this work, Comparative Border Studies offers funding opportunities in the form of 1) research grants for ASU faculty, and 2) year-long fellowships for non-ASU scholars. 

We developed themes for the next three years to provide structure and move us from a consideration of the local border to global borders. Years one and two will include presenters who will challenge Comparative Border Studies participants to place local and regional borders in a global context. The themes are as follows:

• 2011-2012: The Border We Think We Know: Arizona-Sonora
  
• 2012-2013: Border-to-Border: Mexico-United States-Canada
  
• 2013-2014: Beyond North America: Global Borders

These themes will help guide us in our selection of grant and fellowship applicants, although we encourage applications in any given year from anyone whose work applies to the study of borders anywhere in the world.