ABSTRACT
This chapter offers the case of study of Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR) to examines some of the challenges inherent in mobilizing across both geographic and socially constructed borders as well as strategies for addressing some of the challenges the organization has experienced in its more than two decades of operations. AIR was founded by political science professor Anne Hallum after volunteering to lead a group of college students on a study abroad trip to Guatemala. Transnational mobilization of individuals and resources is challenging. To achieve both short and long-term goals, the multiracial, multinational equipo AIRE must mobilize across highly contested borders of race, class, gender, and nationality and associated negotiations of power, privilege, and conflict in its everyday work. Community members and AIR staff emphasized that dialogue informed by humility and mutual respect are key to building relationships both within AIR and between AIR and the communities.
