Border Policing: A History of Enforcement and Evasion in North America

Border Policing provides a comprehensive comparative history of North American border policing over the past two centuries, exploring power dynamics, case studies, and the impact of federal authorities on borderlands.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 06 February 2024
Publisher: University of Texas Press

An interdisciplinary team of borderlands scholars presents the first comprehensive comparative history of the policing and transgression of North American borders over the past two centuries.

Border Policing: A Comprehensive History delves into diverse scholarly perspectives on attempts to regulate people and goods at borders, as well as the ways individuals and communities have navigated, contested, and evaded such regulation. The contributors explore these power dynamics through a series of case studies on subjects ranging from competing allegiances at the northeastern border during the War of 1812 to struggles over Indian sovereignty and from the effects of the Mexican Revolution to the experiences of smugglers along the Rio Grande during Prohibition.

Later chapters extend into the twenty-first century, examining immigration enforcement, drug trafficking, and representations of border policing in reality television. Together, the contributors explore the powerful ways in which federal authorities impose political agendas on borderlands and how local border residents and regions interact with, and push back against, such agendas.

This collection offers new insights into the distinct realities that have shaped the international borders of North America, encompassing a rich mix of political, legal, social, and cultural history.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781477321287