Yet, Leza pointed out that while international borders have increasingly opened to trade, the southern border of the world’s wealthiest nation has increasingly closed to the flow of Latin American peoples. 

 

In a talk Oct. 9 at Miami Hamilton Downtown, Leza drew on her fieldwork with indigenous activists on the U.S.-Mexico border to show how U.S. border enforcement policies disrupt the ceremonial, cultural and social integrity of the region’s transborder indigenous peoples. Focusing on indigenous responses to global capitalism, she demonstrated how indigenous peoples across Latin America are organizing internationally with U.S. indigenous activists in response to current U.S. border policies.

 

The talk, entitled "Globalization and International Borders" was the fourth in a series of Friday noontime talks on global-local relations being held this semester in downtown Hamilton. The series, organized by Miami Hamilton anthropology professor John Cinnamon with support from Miami Hamilton Dean Daniel E. Hall, is designed to “begin a conversation with community members about current dimensions of globalization,” Cinnamon said. The series also serves as a contribution to Miami’s bicentennial series of events.

 

Miami Hamilton Downtown is a storefront space at 221 High Street designed to increase Miami’s civic engagement with the wider community. The space hosts more than 100 events a year, from poetry readings to film showings to its “Egghead Café”, in which Miami professors offer thought-provoking informal discussions with Hamilton residents.