Dynamics of Inclusion / Exclusion in urban contexts

This project digs into the historical roots of these dynamics of inclusion/exclusion in the region of the US-Mexico Border by using a Borderlands/Frontier Studies, as well as a legal history and gender studies point of view.

Applied to human rights theory and legal sociology, The exclusion of groups of people from all rights was considered the foundation of human rights as a “right to have rights” (Arendt). Nevertheless, an “all-encompassing inclusion” presents paradoxes in a world organized in national States: to include all humanity as the subject of human rights one has to exclude all political references, therein included the legal enforcement capabilities of national states.

Applied to urban space and migration, we will build on the "Production of Space" and the "Right to the City" as formulated by Henri Lefebvre, to reflect on how immigrants might have the possibility to be co-participants in the creation of urban space just like the other national citizen inhabitants, as a way to guarantee their rights to live in a healthy and safe environment.

Applied to the issue of legal theory, exclusion is related to the concept of property rights provided for in the Napoleonic code that had the effect of ending the feudal system of property. However, despite a new vision of property, in urban contexts it is private property that is most deeply rooted and thus the power to exclude other.

Applied to the citizenship of indigenous people in Latin America, we will wonder what are the consequences of the dynamics of exclusion in political terms of indigenous individuals and peoples, and what is the relationship with democratic erosion in Mexico and Latin America.

Applied to investor-State disputes, we seek to analyze the political, legal and social impacts of investor-state disputes involving Mexico, in which tensions with environmental protection or human rights are present.

Finally, the analysis from the perspective of Political Communication studies allows us to think of interdisciplinary studies in relation to the other issues presented above.

This project analyzes the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in the U.S.-Mexico border region, integrating different dimensions, in particular historical, sociological, historical, legal and gender dimensions.

The target product is: the drafts of the different chapters of a collective book.

A series of Policy Briefs (3 or 4), with a summary of our findings and their practical implications.

A micro-site / web page to disseminate the progress of the project.

Based on the results and according to local contexts, a series of online workshops/trainings will be offered in conjunction with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).