Department of American Studies

Professor Barajas writes and thinks the US–Mexico border through the figure of the sanctioned, or “legal,” traveler. Her work draws on eight years of ongoing ethnographic research conducted at four ports of entry in California and Arizona—San Ysidro, Calexico West, Calexico East, and San Luis. She has an upcoming article titled An Extraordinary Ride to the Other Side: Border Fantasies and Fuckeries in the Context of Sanctioned Crossings in the Journal of Latin American Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University, though she credits her real education—and occasional flashes of genius—to her upbringing in the lovely city of Tijuana, Baja California.