Search

The U.S.-Mexico border region of the Sonoran Desert is home to 30 Native nations in the United States, and about 15 Indigenous communities in Mexico. Imposed on Indigenous peoples' ancestral lands, the border is an artificial line created in 1848, following the war between the U.S. and Mexico. Tohono O'odham Community College (TOCC) seeks to engage and understand the effects of this border by focusing on how the Tohono O'odham Nation has approached cultural and environmental issues within the context of their spiritual relationship with the land that predates the existence of both the U.S. and Mexico. For the Tohono O'odham to exercise sovereignty as a Native nation and to tackle cultural and environmental concerns in the Borderlands, it is necessary to develop a sustainable strategy in higher education that will provide a local-to-international scope of knowledge for future generations. TOCC is therefore seeking to establish a Borderlands studies program to address these concerns and to provide an Indigenous transborder higher education for the people of the region. A Borderlands studies program at TOCC would solidly ground students in traditional knowledge that is infused with science, the arts, and the humanities. Graduates from the program will be able to address the impacts of social, cultural, environmental, and political issues and concerns associated with the constant fluctuations of people and cultures within the Borderlands. They will gain a foundational understanding of tribal history, culture, international law, and the U.S. and Mexico's respective Indian policies.