ABSTRACT
Having been moved 2,000 miles to the north of its original home on the Rio Grande, a steel government sign was placed along the colorful fence of the Black Cat Café in Seattle, and there it retained something of its original meaning. It was a small white sign with black letters which announced, “U.S. Border.” On one side, land administered by the United States; on the other, the sign implied, a space beyond the reach of the American state: an autonomous region.
