ABSTRACT
Among the world’s frontiers, the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, particularly the Tijuana–San Diego section, is the one with the highest levels of inequality, but also of interaction, integration, and economic interdependence. This interaction is expressed in the multiple exchanges and flows between the two cities. Unfortunately, the high level of exchange and economic interdependence does not necessarily translate into equivalent levels of awareness, understanding, acceptance, or commitment towards the neighboring city and its inhabitants. In this complex border zone, the level of interaction is determined by what I define as the degree of “transborderism.” This term refers to the frequency, intensity, directionality, and scale of crossing activities; the type of material and symbolic exchanges; and the social and cultural meanings attached to the interactions. A higher level of transborderism is associated with greater cultural capacity and richness, increased complexity in the ways people perceive the border, as well as richer concepts of self-identity. It is often said that “everything depends on the mirror in which one looks,” but it also depends on the characteristics of who is doing the looking and the place from which one observes. For this reason, it is essential to analyze social concepts of the border from the viewpoints of the people and places in the border zone’s different social and cultural milieux. The main distinctions are among those who cross the border and those who do not, the reasons for crossing or not crossing, and whether crossing is from north to south or south to north.
