Episode 1 - What is “Borderlands”? (part 1)

Episode #1 “What is borderland?” (part 1) Hi everyone!!! Welcome to "Borderlands", a multi-episode podcast about the US-Mexico migration border policies and their impact on communities, in one of the most militarized, controlled and deadly counties of the border: the Pima county in the State of Arizona. In this first episode, we’ll ask ourselves: HOW borderlands became borderlands? What’s the story…or better, What’s its History! What’s Borderlands? For some people, it’s the southwest border, the Far-west with sun, cactus and dust, like in the movies. For others, it’s part of the more broaden Native Land. For some others, it’s El Norte – the North of Mexico. “Borderlands” is a mix of communities with different perspectives in seeing and living the region. In Borderlands, you also have cities like Tucson, where I lived for 6 months. You have villages, ranches, national Parks and Monuments, Wildlife refuges, bombing range… “Borderlands” could be materialized by the Sonoran desert and its nature. Being crossed by the international border between US and Mexico, this desert occurs primarily in Mexico, two-thirds of its total area. In the United States, most of the Sonoran Desert can be found in the south of Arizona. It has many plants and animals as the desert receives rainfall during the winter months and also during the summer monsoons, in July and August. You’ll find different types of Cacti, of course, like the famous Saguaro with so much personality but also trees, grass and flowers in springtime. More than 700 migratory species of birds, mammals and insects use the borderlands during their annual migrations. Some of these animals are endemic species, only living in some areas of the Sonoran’ desert. For centuries, there have also been different communities living on this land like the Tohono O’odham nation* which will be introduced in the next episode of the podcast. Borderlands is above all part of the Native Land. The Tohono O’Odham are native Americans who have been living in the region for centuries. Borderlands is a zone with a long History of control. it’s not only a wall, a separation line between two countries, but also a colonial history with its own narratives and reproduction systems still present. Living in this border area, it’s with this History. Over time, the border as a separation between two spaces and therefore between different populations, has become more and more important. Its control and surveillance became a priority issue as well as form of control on people living on Borderlands or passing by it. Listening to Joanne Coutts, a writer and a map maker who lived in the Sonoran desert for years. Happy listening and don’t forget: this first episode was mixed by Nicolas Puissant. *We will introduce the Tohono O’odham nation in Episode #2. You can already read more about the nation, see below. Speaker: Joanne Coutts, writer and map maker Episode #1 - Read more about the history of the US Mexico border: . A brief History of race and the U.S.-Mexican border: tracing the trajectories of conquest, Juan F. Perea, UCLA Law Review, Vol. 51, 2003 . White borders, Reece Jones, Beacon Press, 2021 . Joanne Coutts’ website: https://www.joannecouttsmaps.com/sonoran-desert-journeys.html?fbclid=IwAR2SBJXOxdazwX6IdFzb7zSS_DTtC7-Jpiv8iLFpEh6EOEVzcM1oALLuA8g . Report on Elbit system, O'odham Voice Against the Wall, August 2021 Credits “Welcome to borderlands”: A podcast by Eva Ottavy, mixed by Nicolas Puissant. Music: Dusty Sun by Serj Anto. Graphic Identity by Eva Ottavy (Borderlands brewery’s front in Tucson-Arizona and “Chinche al agua”, a mural painting of Victor “Mask” Casas in El Paso-Texas)