About the project
Our project aims to study the conceptual pair “inclusion/exclusion” in the US-Mexico border, thought as a possible conceptual tool to readdress, and possibly replace, the notion of “social integration” since all social institutions and phenomena are simultaneously inclusive and exclusive (Luhmann, 1995). Through this new conceptualization of social exclusion and inequalities, we seek to identify how the relations of “inclusion/exclusion” should be understood as constituting the very core of the political realm (Agamben, [1995]2018) in different urban contexts.
We will focus on several contexts and populations traditionally considered vulnerable on both sides of the US-Mexico border to address several legal, political, historical, and social phenomena by referring to complex and intertwined dynamics that include some while excluding others. Albeit stemming from quite diverse fields, the approaches mentioned above share the same argumentative drive whereby all social dynamics or phenomena imply the notion of “inclusion/exclusion” as a two-sided form. The general argument stems from logic and states that in order to understand any phenomenon, both sides need to be analyzed simultaneously. For each phenomenon addressed in this project through these conceptual lenses, we will examine aspects such as the populations that are included, those who are left out, and how and why these dynamics occur.