Border Geography: Key Context from the Arizona-Mexico Boundary

The boundary that separates Arizona from Mexico extends 354 miles across land and 24 miles up the Colorado River. Arizona shares this boundary with two Mexican states and two Native American Reservations. Eight ports-of-entry and six sets of border town pairs create important points of contact. Efforts to conserve land, manage urban growth, create resilient economies, and share water resources extend across the border and these multiple jurisdictions. These days our attention to the border is preoccupied with the issues of immigration and drugs, but there is much more to this important place that is worth knowing. In this presentation we apply a geographical lens to the Arizona-Mexico boundary and focus in on issues of land use, economics, security, and water. In doing so we create a basic framework that should be helpful to anyone who wants to explore the Arizona-Mexico borderland region for themselves.

This program is cohosted by Pima County Public Library – Salazar-Ajo Branch. This is an in-person program.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Scott Warren lives in Ajo, Arizona where he works as an academic geographer. His research, teaching, and experience is at the intersection of people and place in the broad Mexico-U.S. borderland. The landscapes of Arizona and the continental southwest inspire his work.