Table Of ContentMichigan Journal of Community Service Learning Summer 2004,pp. 31-42
Power and Privilege: Community Service Learning in Tijuana
Michelle Madsen Camacho
University of San Diego
As social scientists engage their own subjectivity, there is greater awareness of their own touristic
“gaze,”or at least the power relations that are evoked in the researcher-subject interaction. In teaching
students involved in community service learning,the challenge is to provide a learning experience that
addresses power inequities between student and served. How do we teach students to recognize axes of
privilege,be critical of their roles,and be sensitive to the multiple dimensions of power relations among
and between server and served? This article proposes to examine how service-learning can be a catalyst
for examining the important issue of subjectivity. Drawing from qualitative data of students working in
migrant labor camps and community development projects in the context of Tijuana,I discuss how stu-
dents viewed power differentials and came to consider their relative social class and racialized differ-
ences in the context of the Mexican border zone.
Dimensions of Subjectivity:An Introduction nizant of,and sensitive to,what Mary Louise Pratt
(1992) calls, “contact zones”: the disparate social
R
eciprocity is the key to community service
spaces where authority and hierarchy encounter
learning; this is what differentiates it from philan-
and engage with the Other? This can be a particu-
thropy and charity. The reciprocity involved,howev-
lar challenge when students are not diverse in their
er, is asymmetrical. I remember as a young girl,
social class and ethnic backgrounds, as is the case
about age nine,my sister and I were waiting for the
at my campus where the student body is primarily
distribution of Christmas gifts. We were at a commu-
middle- and upper- class, and predominantly
nity hall, and the distribution of gifts was part of a
White. For me,a central challenge in making com-
philanthropic event. Although I was only nine, I
munity service learning a valuable pedagogical
vividly recall two things about the occasion. I
tool is figuring out how to encourage students to
remember getting the gift,a Chinese Checker game
think about and critically reflect upon their own
set. But more vivid was the wait. Waiting to open the
social locations; that is, be cognizant of how their
gift, waiting while I felt others were watching us. I
“gazes” might be imbued with power. Ethnic
remember experiencing the slightest feeling of
Studies scholar Gail Perez (2001) eloquently
unease,for I knew that most other classmates had this
addresses the difficulties of critical pedagogy:
exchange in their homes,not in a public setting,and
“Pedagogical innovations like experiential learning
I knew that I had to appear most grateful,regardless
must be scrutinized; they are often so narrowly
of what the package held. As I remember this event,
it pains me to remember that even though I was most defined that their transformative potential is negat-
grateful,I was the object of their gaze. My reaction ed (i.e.,the power relations within them are mysti-
was the reward for their charity. And while it did feel fied)”(p. 87). Below I argue that while community
nice to get a new gift,I’ll never forget that humbling service learning is ideally designed to be rooted in
feeling. My mother,a single woman,an immigrant, mutuality and reciprocity between servers and
never openly expressed such feelings; her resource- served,issues of power and privilege can create an
fulness was always useful in keeping our household asymmetrical relationship between both. A sus-
abreast economically. But I find it funny to imagine, tained service-learning interaction, fused with
now,how this type of interaction would unfold in the close analysis to server subjectivity, is central to
present, with my students as the protagonists addressing such inequities.
involved in a similar exchange. Would they ever be Many of the social sciences and humanities are
able to understand those feelings of a little girl’s undergoing a process of decolonization, raising to
angst? And, perhaps more importantly, is such an the surface power issues and incorporating histori-
understanding an important part of their interaction? cally-marginalized voices. How this process trans-
To me, this memory marks a tension of service- lates into the classroom, however, is a challenge.
learning. How can we teach students to be cog- Anthropologists in particular have not been as
31
Camacho
engaged with community service learning as a ped- research has examined which conditions elicit par-
agogical tool, despite the many similarities in ticular responses among students (some have
method (particularly field research) and approach argued that the process is a linear one, or a “con-
(at local levels). The reluctance to incorporate com- tinuum” of learning), I argue that ‘border cross-
munity service learning into the classroom may ings’in the contact zones tend to be more haphaz-
stem from a lag in how theory is transformed into ard,not necessarily producing systematic and sim-
praxis. While many educators have begun to decol- ilar responses among students, but varied and
onize our discipline,perhaps some are reluctant to diverging experiences.
send out students without examining the nuances The key to navigating this “messiness”of experi-
of how such sensitivity to relations of power ences is to provide,inasmuch as possible,a sustained
unfolds. This sensitivity is very difficult to teach experience in which servers and served have an
because American society is trained more to be immersion experience among each other. Just as
consumers, tourists, and myopic in terms of con- anthropologists emphasize devoting long amounts of
structing social realities. For a student who has time to their field sites,developing rapport with a key
never before been a recipient of some kind of ser- informant in particular, service-learning students
vice,for example,the task of reflexivity is one that should have the chance to develop in-depth rapport
with a single community member and carry this rela-
cannot simply be explained; it must be lived. It is
tionship through the duration of the academic period.
as challenging to teach students to be reflexive
Limited visits to the community site or a single visit
about the service-learning encounter as it is to
during the academic period may be counter-produc-
make them aware of their various axes of privilege.
tive to the learning aspect of service work. A sus-
This task of locating and deconstructing power
tained experience, allowing the server to begin to
relations is one that creates tremendous resent-
hear and begin to see differently,can be tremendous-
ment,and sometimes even hostility,in students. In
ly empowering at both ends. Potentially,such a sus-
a compelling article,Ann Green (2001) cautions of
tained interaction can overcome an essentialization
the tendency to gloss over differential power rela-
or reification of the Other. By highlighting not stasis
tions when students do not “feel good.” The topic
but the dynamic aspects of social relations, and by
of race can make a student uncomfortable, she
having the opportunity to explore the particulari-
argues, and must be dissected, particularly when
ties—the detailed histories of individuals—rather
there is a racialized power imbalance in the com-
than producing generalizations, community service
munity service learning interaction:
learning can allow for exploring the varied positions
Well-intentioned white people, both students of power that members of the served community
and faculty, must learn racial awareness, and inhabit. This can be valuable in debunking stereo-
middle class people of all races must think types and challenging students’tendency to construct
about how class affects the service situation. It the Other as a monolith. It can begin to provide stu-
is absolutely important to talk about the inter- dents,in spite of a homogenous experience on cam-
sections of race,class,and service in order to pus,with new tools for examining and understanding
prevent service-learning from replicating the
their diverse social worlds.
power imbalances and economic injustices that
create the need for service-learning in the first Rethinking Subjectivity
place. (p.18)
In the late 1980s and 1990s anthropology as a
While anthropologists may be especially sensitive to discipline underwent major changes. Particularly
these types of social relations,it is only recently that with the injection of cultural studies and feminist
we have begun to examine ourselves critically. theoretical frameworks, anthropologists began to
The value of community service learning is it critique our historical links to colonialism and
can potentially offer an incisive starting point to examine how cultural ethnographies sometimes
discuss these power differentials. The community resulted in reified representations of the Other.
service learning context provides a ‘contact zone,’ Anthropologists started to get serious about their
allowing for an interactive opportunity in which subjectivity. We started to debunk the idea that
understandings and practices can be turned on their fieldwork was “objective”and began to incorporate
heads, improvised, examined and reexamined. our biases into the craft of research. This opened up
Metaphoric borders of identity can be explored, many new avenues for anthropologists, who con-
even crossed. Recognition of the power differen- verged with philosophers, semioticians, and liter-
tials can occur at multiple levels,and differently for ary analysts to begin deconstructing the objectivi-
servers and served at various moments and across ty/subjectivity polemic. This allowed anthropolo-
contexts (spatially and temporally). Though little gists to insert themselves in between the space of
32
Power and Privilege
the subject of their study and the product of their who holds the power, and how the service recipi-
study (the ethnography). What was most valuable ents are made to feel as a result of the service-inter-
about this new paradigm was that anthropological action. Although their research is not in the context
inquiry had a self-reflexive element,and we began of community service learning (it is on the roles of
to discern the voices and accents of the researchers NGOs),the implications of their concerns are rele-
themselves. Throughout this revision to the craft of vant here. In describing the relationship between
ethnography, an examination of power relations those who serve and are served, Mindry clarifies
ensued. In particular, anthropologists began to the essence of philanthropic power:
examine sites of power, of resistance, of acquies-
The language of privilege and responsibility to
cence; in short, understanding agency became a
others is deeply imbued with a sense of hierar-
central organizing principle of our discipline (see
chy and superiority. Philanthropic work rein-
Ahearn,2001; Ortner,1984; 2001).
scribes the privileged status of those engaged
In a sense, there is a parallel between how the in such work by emphasizing their superior
objectivity/subjectivity framework has been decon- position in relation to those who become the
structed and how community service learning and the object of their caring. (p. 188)
practice of philanthropy have been related.
Mindry argues that philanthropy does not empower,
Philanthropy occurs in the absence of reflexivity,
but rather legitimizesthe social hierarchy:
without conscientiousness toward the differential
relations of power embedded in the interaction, and It reinscribes the social order or,at best,seeks
as a hegemonic relationship in which the “receiving” to change things in ways that do not substan-
group has been “selected” as “needy” by a more tially threaten the existing order, and in fact
powerful group. In community service learning, the make the dominant order seem morally worthy
receiving group usually has some say in how they are and a standard to be emulated. Philanthropy is
a liberal project that is profoundly configured
accessed,in the type of services they receive,and in
by “enlightenment” and modernist ideals of
forming and developing the relationship. Students
progress,and “betterment.”(p. 188)
are required to be reflexive about the interaction,and
in this sense while the relation of power is still pre- Community service learning is also a liberal pro-
sent,students can process the interaction and critical- ject, yet it differs ideologically from philanthropy
ly theorize it in light of these themes. Subjectivity is in that its goal is to promote social change (Morton,
at the center,or at least this is the goal. 1995; Rhoads, 1997). Nonetheless, the encounters
are still largely marked by class differences, and
Modes of Power and Community
many writers lucidly point out that some students
Service Learning
“just don’t get it,” and are precluded because of
their own “developmental realities” (Green, 2001;
While we may attempt to teach sensitivity to the
Jones,2002; Rosenberger,2000). As Jones asserts,
varied dimensions of power relations,and theorize
“...there is some likelihood of service-learning
the importance of reflexivity,how do students ulti-
experiences actually reinforcing the negative
mately perceive the service-learning encounter?
stereotypes and assumptions that students bring
How differently do students experience service-
with them to the class environment” (p.10). To
learning, compared to philanthropy or charity?
what extent,contrary to its goals,does community
Both charity and philanthropy, Vron Ware (1992)
service learning reinscribe power relations?
argues,are situated in a history of power and dom-
Cynthia Rosenberger (2000) fluently addresses
ination, serving to regulate class difference and
this issue:
ensure class privilege (elaborated by Mindry,1999,
p. 186). Does service-learning also regulate such Recalling Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the
differences? Are the relations of power involved in Oppressed (1997) I began to question whether
community service learning masked under the service learning is yet another way that those
guise of “mutuality”? who have power and privilege,even if only by
Mindry (1999) and Malkki (1995) have theo- education, name the problems and the solu-
tions for the less privileged. I became con-
rized the nature of the relationship between giver
cerned that service learning easily carries con-
and receiver of aid in terms of “philanthropic
notations of “doing good,”of the “haves”giv-
modes of power” (Malkki, p. 296). They describe
ing to the “have-nots,” of “we” serving
how charity and other forms of service are laden
“them”—perspectives that reproduce positions
within a field of power relations,and how this type
of power. For me, the fundamental question
of service work operates without any conscientious became:To what extent does service learning,
acknowledgment of how power operates, about although intended to meet community needs
33
Camacho
and promote active citizenship, sustain the pass the border checkpoints,located 60 miles north
hegemony of the elite and perpetuate the status of the border. In short, the students on our campus
quo of privilege and oppression created by the are exposed on a daily basis to what it means to
economic and educational opportunities of inhabit a “borderland” space. Mexican immigrants
class,race,and gender? (p. 24)
form a tremendous part of everyday lives,yet many
Because community service learning is a tool students have never personally met an “undocu-
that brings these issues to the forefront, it can be mented immigrant.”Many students only experience
their labor indirectly and rarely have they had the
utilized to deliberately think and theorize about
opportunity to interact one-on-one, know of their
such tensions. Being more self-conscious can begin
plight, other than through propaganda such as
to help name these power differentials, and in the
“SOS” (Save our State, California Proposition 187
process of naming them,can begin to teach critical
that sought to make it illegal for immigrants to uti-
approaches to subjectivity. We can then begin to
lize public health services and access to public edu-
explore where the axes of potential resistance to
cation). A hostile climate exists in San Diego toward
hierarchical relationships exist. How can contesta-
Mexican immigrants. Last year in Penasquitos (a
tion,or modes of resistance,be collaboratively cre-
suburb of San Diego),three migrants were beaten by
ated? Within the social sciences,some have begun
White boys; other migrants have been targets of
to employ “participatory action” research strate-
stoning and even shootings.
gies, the core of which shares many similarities
My class,“The U.S. Mexico Border/Borderlands”
with the ideal outcomes of community service
sought to teach students about Mexicans’econom-
learning: collaboration in project design, policy-
ic and social contributions. The goals of the course
relevance,sharing in the data collection and analy-
were to: understand the evolution of the border-
sis procedures, disseminating project outcomes at
lands and its international-political climate; move
local levels, de-centering the hierarchical
beyond an individual-level approach to understand-
researcher-subject relation. There is clearly a link
ing the phenomenon of migration and examine its
between participatory action research and the aims
historical-structural dimensions; deconstruct
of community service learning.
“Operation Gatekeeper” (the militarized wall that
As a newcomer to community service learning,I
has been erected between the United States and
had some hesitation (based on the above theoretical
Mexico); and critically examine the border patrol’s
inclinations) about incorporating experiential
actions. More importantly, I wanted students to
learning into the classroom. Below I detail my
experience the border culture that is sometimes iso-
experience of community service learning in a
lated beyond the university ivory tower. I wanted
course titled, “Sociology of the Border” (referring
them to learn that immigrants are not criminals,as
to the U.S.-Mexico borderlands).1
the media sometimes portrays them. I wanted them
Context: Exploring Subjectivity to experience their humanity.
in the Borderland Preparing students for community service learn-
ing among Mexican migrants began with a tour of
Located in the “borderlands”of the U.S.-Mexico the Tijuana region. We had just learned about
region, students attending the University of San Tijuana’s “Black Legend,” the economic history
Diego are exposed to Mexican migrants on a daily behind how Tijuana became a notorious touristic
basis. Mexican workers tend the campus gardens, destination (Ruiz, 2000), and I wanted to take my
serve students food in the dining halls,empty cam- students to the sites they would be visiting later for
pus trashcans,and mop academic halls. While dri- their community service learning assignments.
ving north within San Diego County and further Some of my students had never before been to
beyond, Mexican workers hunched over at the Tijuana,some had only visited the “party zone”on
waist can be observed in the fields picking berries Avenida Revolucion, a couple of my students were
or tomatoes for our nation’s markets. At local born in Tijuana,and about half of my students grew
restaurants and fast food eateries they work as bus- up in the “borderlands”as Chicanas and Chicanos,
boys or in the kitchen. They service many residen- considered themselves “borderlanders” and
tial communities as gardeners,nannies,and house- claimed to be somewhat more comfortable in the
keepers. Until recently,aboard the local trolleys,it surreal Tijuana space than others. Accompanying
was not uncommon to witness those who “appear us were three experts: the Director of Community
to be ‘illegal’” stopped by U.S. Border Patrol and Service Learning on our campus, the Assistant
asked for identification. Signs on local freeways Director of the Trans-Border Institute from our
alert drivers that migrants may be running across campus, and a visiting professor from Texas, who
the freeway to evade border patrol. Cars line up to was serving as President of the Association for
34
Power and Privilege
Borderland Studies. While the goal was to offer services to migrants already in the United States.
students a preview of the sites, overwhelmingly I Students traveled to the migrant camps and spent a
felt,as did some students,that we were very much half-day on Sundays talking with the migrants,
like tourists,elite tourists for that matter,as we sat teaching them or practicing English language
from high in our chairs on the bus and drove skills, learning or practicing Spanish skills, and
around the city. And so we began our experience of providing some items to which migrants might not
the U.S. Mexico border zone, theorizing “the have access (such as blankets and clothing).
tourist gaze”(Urry, 1990) and the power relations It is important to note that in these contexts, the
that have constructed our country’s contentious migrants are not simply passive recipients (even
history with our southern neighbor. though they are colloquially termed, “pollos” or
Over the course of the semester we read exten- “chickens,”because they are subjected to the “coy-
sively and relied on guest speakers to discuss issues otes,” the human smugglers, who can assist or
not prominent in the media. One speaker recounted thwart their efforts to cross). Rather, migrants
the numerous human rights violations against know of, and clearly articulate, the liminal status
migrants. Another discussed the negative portrayal they inhabit in the United States. These communi-
of immigrants in the media (as “invaders” in our ty service learning sites are places where they can
society). We also watched a video produced by the safely express their needs and fears. Their “undoc-
Border Patrol showing the latest technological umented” status in the United States, however,
advances on how the border is policed to capture belies a more complicated position. As I detail
those who enter illegally. (We had a tour scheduled below, from the Mexican perspective, migration is
with the Border Patrol,but they cancelled it due to viewed as a heroic endeavor (this is especially
“Homeland Security”). These diverse pedagogical because remittances from migrants contribute sig-
approaches sought to expose students to a plurality nificantly to the Mexican GNP). Thus migrants
of perspectives about migration and policing the know they are fulfilling important national and
border. The film, Natives, taught students about local needs within Mexico,and yet this role is jux-
how local (White) San Diegans construct them- taposed with the discrimination they encounter
selves as “native” to this region, discursively re- within the United States. We see, then, that
inscribing Mexican migrants as distinct, foreign migrants simultaneously occupy varied positions
and “other,”despite their long history in the United of power and powerlessness.
States (see also Chavez,2001). In designing this class I faced two main chal-
There were two service-learning components to lenges. First, I was teaching in a highly-charged
the class: a group project in which all participated political context: the local San Diego population
in an event (“Day of the Child”) to benefit children has approved numerous political propositions to
of one community in Tijuana; the other, an on- have immigrants apprehended,bar them from using
going project, was scheduled through the public services,and blockade their entrance into the
Community Service Learning office on campus. country (Operation Light Up the Border). This chal-
Students could choose between visiting three dif- lenge manifested itself subtly. For example,one stu-
ferent placements. 1) Casa del Migrante, a sort of dent told me a story of her hometown, Temecula,
half-way house for migrants waiting to cross into and her everyday encounters with migrants evading
the United States,where cultural information,tem- border patrol. Outside of class she told me that one
porary lodging, food, clothing, and medical assis- day,as she rode her bike,a migrant’s car,involved
tance is offered. Students could share a meal with in a chase with the Border Patrol,crashed into her.
migrants,engage in conversations,assist in distrib- She told me that since then she harbored a deep
uting food supplies,and learn first-hand knowledge resentment against all migrants, for their reckless-
from migrants who had been apprehended attempt- ness. She painfully recounted this narrative, and I
ing to cross the border and planned to do so again. interpreted her to say that even though she could
2) La Morita, a community/educational center and understand the structural/historical context of
clinic that meets medical and educational needs of migrants,this particular individual event tainted her
those who have moved from elsewhere in Mexico understanding. I wondered about my other students’
to Tijuana, many of whom are on the migratory experiences and how their individual ideas,and per-
path to the U.S.,or have family members who are. haps stereotypes,about migrants would play out in
Here students could engage in a range of activities, my classroom.
from brainstorming about possible community pro- A second challenge I was concerned about in
jects to actually constructing physical edifices, designing this course was a sense of resistance that
alongside Mexican workers. 3) Migrant Outreach,a I had encountered in previous courses when teach-
service that provides supplies, food, and religious ing about issues of privilege. Most sensitive was
35
Camacho
the topic of “Whiteness,” which I discussed as the aim was not to make generalizable conclusions,but
silent and normative dimension of racial relations rather to begin to determine the departure points
against which all other races are constructed (see from which to theorize community service learning
Frankenberg, 1997; Giroux, 1997; Lipsitz, 1998; and issues of inequality.
Rasmussen, Nexica, Klinenberg, & Wray, 2001). The analysis presented below is drawn from tran-
How could I make service-learning relevant to scriptions of oral discussions, debriefing sessions,
these students when, at a theoretical level, within and categorization of 45 pieces of textual products
the classroom many of them seemed indifferent, that I was granted permission to include in this arti-
even irritated that I teach from the prism of differ- cle. Utilizing content analysis (Weber, 1990) to
ence? This points to the partial futility in trying to review them, I created three categories based on
teach didactically about cultural difference alone.2 use of language, content of narratives presented,
If I made community service learning a require- and depth of reflection. Theme one,“Constructing
ment, how would I manage the various reactions Self and Other,”included text that suggested either
and create a useful pedagogical exercise? How, a judgmental stance toward migrants, or a mono-
most importantly,would I be able to have students, lithic treatment of difference. Theme two,
through their service, recognize their own subjec- “Foreignness” included narratives that suggested
tivity,reflect on their own relative power,and make student awkwardness among migrants. Narratives
some connections to their own identities? raising issues such as, “I felt like the minority” or
“They were judging me,”were included in this cat-
Methodology
egory. The third theme, “Examining
The data presented below are based on an avail- Subjectivities,” included texts discussing privilege
ability sample of 30 students from one class: 25 or theorizing about one’s own identity relationally.
females and 5 males; 16 Chicanos/Latinos (I The classification process was subjective and I do
include in this group three Mexican bi-nationals not attempt to make generalizaable conclusions
who resided in Mexico and commuted to San based on what is presented here. The effort should
Diego),12 white students,and 2 African American be read only as a preliminary exploration of student
students. (Note that the classroom demographics responses to raise questions, not as an attempt to
were not representative of the campus.) My sample draw conclusions.
size of men was too small to account for variation
An Exploration of Identities: Data Analysis
by gender. With regard to national origin, it was
glaringly evident that there were marked differ-
Before launching into the findings within the
ences of social class. (For example, one student’s
three theme categories, it is important to note that
bodyguard followed our class around the streets of
the themes are imperfect - some students’analysis
Tijuana in a Mercedes Benz as we visited the ser-
reflected overlapping categories or documented
vice-learning sites.) Because many undocumented
change in perceptions over time. In these few
immigrants are from the southern states of Mexico,
cases,a multiplicity of sentiments were expressed,
which have higher indigenous populations,the dif-
illustrating how student experiences in their ser-
ferences between the Chicanos/Latinos in the class
vice-learning can shift. In the example below,a stu-
and the migrants were also marked by phenotype
dent’s poem illustrates her varied reactions. Her
and Spanish accents.
poem is a useful conversational tool to begin dis-
I incorporated multiple methods of processing
cussing issues of power and reflexivity.
student experiences with migrants. I offered dis-
cussions of power relations throughout the class You are sent as a hero
and told students they could incorporate these he prays to be saved
dimensions into their written ideas. (I also told stu- you wish your task were over
dents I was considering incorporating their ideas he dreams,like you,he had it made
and comments into a paper, and asked them to
he feels like an example
explicitly grant or deny me permission to anony-
you feel like an observer
mously include portions of their ideas.) I also
he tells you of his struggle
required written reflections, with latitude to use you tell him you’re the intruder
prose,poetry,essays,or journal entries.
The analysis is inductive (it begins with data you share your sadness for him
he shares he doesn’t want your pity
rather than theory) and it engages “exploratory”
you want to take back those words
questions (not seeking explanations,rather,search-
he wants to go back to your city
ing for the relevant questions in terms of power,
privilege, and community service learning). My he gives you strength and hope
36
Power and Privilege
you feel your heart bleed It occurred to me that the human contact these
he is the one who saved you migrants had with students, most of whom were
you were the one in need women,fulfilled a valuable need. In the broader con-
text of San Diego County, these men are often tar-
you complete your duty
gets of animosity and degradation. One migrant,for
he survives his day
you go back to your reality example, complained that he felt discriminated
he can’t from his life stray against when he went into the supermarket,because
his “clothes were filthy” and he “did not smell like
In this poem the student describes herself as a
perfume.”Meeting with the female students provid-
“hero,” “observer,” and “intruder,” illustrating a
ed a unique social opportunity. Most migrants who
tension between multiple roles she experienced.
live in migrant camps are young men and their inter-
She recognizes that the migrant reached her (he
actions with other young women are limited.
gave her “strength and hope”), and alludes to a
The migrants inhabit a liminal social position. In
sense of reciprocity. At the end of the poem, she
the United States,they are social outcasts. Yet this
returns home. In a subtle way she concludes her
position belies the “mystique of migration”and the
poem with the reality that after this encounter she
lauded machismo that surrounds the migration
returns to her literal home, her safe refuge, which
process from a Mexican perspective. The President
of course the migrant does not have. I appreciate
of Mexico, Vincente Fox, for example, recently
this poem for its raw honesty, for artistically
declared Mexican migrants to the United States as
attempting to multidimensionally convey what the
national heroes. In Mexico there is ample folklore
student has experienced.
and a cultural aura (particularly conveyed through
Throughout the course my challenge was to let
popular music) that exalts the migratory process.
my students stand on new ground, both literal and
Migrants to the United States are viewed as “risk-
metaphoric, and then aid them in getting used to
takers.”Young men,in particular,who migrate are
how the ground shifts as they reflect on their own
lauded for their heroism,fearlessness,and bravado.
subjectivity. During in-class reflections, Chicanas
They embody the sense of Mexican masculinity in
dealt openly with identity differences—describing,
their unabashed quest to earn money and improve
for example, how they shared common tastes and
their social status by traveling the sometimes per-
sometimes language with the Mexicans in
ilous route across the border.
Tijuana—yet experienced them as a different social
I realized that even though my students might not
group (they crossed a “social border” (Hayes &
be interested in dating the migrants, the migrants
Cuban, 1997).3 The social class differences
probably appreciate young attractive women
between them were a topic of conversation. We dis-
spending their Sunday afternoons chatting with and
cussed how it is that once migrants have adjusted to
listening to them.4It is possible,even,that my stu-
life in the United States,it becomes very difficult to
dents could be satisfying an intimate psychological
return to Mexico as the same individual. One stu-
need. The only contact many of these migrants
dent had parents who had worked as migrants in
have with single women is with prostitutes that
the fields as day laborers. She shared her personal
visit the migrant camps (personal communication
experience of how her parents had a difficult time
with Migrant Outreach Director,2003). I chose not
leaving everything behind in Mexico to seek a bet-
to directly theorize this dimension with my stu-
ter life in the United States. Her service was at
dents, because I did not want to confound their
Migrant Outreach, where they teach basic English
experience with such speculation. It is clear, how-
and serve food. She wrote,
ever, that multiple layers of power relations com-
At first I found this task very difficult and plicate service-learning interactions. We also see
depressing. How is it that I can just walk off,and that dimensions of gender and sexuality can be inti-
not let it bother me that I am going home to have mately embedded within the social relations of
a roof over my head and a warm meal whenever community service learning.
I want to cook? As I continued to attend,I felt Below I give examples of the three themes I
more frustrated because I wanted to make a dif- found among my student’s written work. Through
ference. The way I do this is through communi-
the service-learning opportunities, some students,
cating with the migrants. I learned that some-
in the process of discussing their own relative iden-
times they just need someone to listen to them,
tities, discursively reified the migrants, inadver-
to their stories,their troubles. Sometimes these
tently constructing them as objects of their gazes
men are starving for attention and need someone
(theme one). Others described a feeling of “for-
to let out their frustrations,anger,and loneliness.
They just need someone to listen, not judge eign-ness”(a sense of displacement or momentary
them,and just try to understand. loss of identity),expressed as feelings of being the
37
Camacho
“other”or “like a minority”(theme two). Yet others the pictures (as well as in his character in gen-
considered their relative power, openly theorized eral.) He did not feel like a criminal, like he
differences, and attempted to critically examine was from an inferior society, running away
from difficulties, or anything else along these
dimensions of privilege (theme three).
lines. What he was doing was something
Theme One:Constructing Self and Other respectful,something to be proud of,and noth-
ing to be ashamed of; he was going somewhere
One student wrote, “I felt like I was back at
to work hard so that he could better provide for
home in East Los Angeles with so many people of his family’s needs. I really hope it works out
color; they even sold jalapenos at McDonald’s.” for him on one hand and that he is able to end
She wrote that she felt she could relate to the up where he wants,but I also hope that he does
migrants because her mother had crossed illegally not end up getting his visa and stays in
when she was 19 years old,but that “my family is Guerrero with his family. I feel this way
because of the hardship that he is going to face
now established in the US and they live comfort-
if he tries to come to the US again. It makes me
ably, even though only 10 years ago her mother
so sad and angry that he will be treated in such
would become fearful at the sight of the border
a manner that is so wrong once he is in the US.
patrol’s green van.” But the student also said she
felt like a tourist, as if people were staring at her Here we witness an interesting dimension to the
because she was with the group of college students. interpersonal dynamic between the student and
migrant. She describes him as a “campesino from
As we were walking we saw a stand with meat,
Guerrero”and a “strawberry worker,”and elaborates
and the people were just fanning the flies away
his identity in terms of his familial role (father and
with a piece of paper. Right away I heard some
provider). She finds it important to note he does not
students saying, “That’s not healthy,” and “I
seem “criminal-like” nor “inferior,” nor an escapee
don’t believe that,”and “that is gross.”Even I
from social ails (here we see some of her precon-
was thinking these things,because I go to the
ceptions of migrants). Together with the other qual-
supermarket where the meat is packed up nice-
ly,but for them [the Mexicans],all they have is itative indicators, her depiction of him as “proud,”
this marketplace. “sincere,”and “noble”summarizes him as the quin-
tessential “noble savage.”This is one of the tensions
Here we see a moralizing discourse, the student
in anthropology: how can we describe our subjects
establishes herself as different than the Mexicans
and not essentialize or reify them? How can we con-
on the basis of hygiene,a powerful mechanism for vey these dimensions of subtlety to undergraduates
indicating social differentiation. In the process,this in just one course?
student has discursively defined her identity,estab-
Theme Two:Feelings of “Foreign-ness”
lishing herself as both similar to, and yet socially
distinct from,those she is serving. Some students defined their experiences in terms
The second example illustrates a student roman- of the awkwardness they felt, stating they felt like
ticization of the migrant with whom she interacts: the “Other.” One student expressed feelings of
momentary social isolation:
I went outside and began talking to one of the
migrants who was waiting to go inside. I think
When we were all sitting together and we were
I asked him if I could take a picture of him and trying to teach them English I realized how hard
he was asking me about my photography class it was for both of us to be there. For me as an
and we got to talking a little. While I was tak- American citizen,I felt like a spoiled brat and I
ing some pictures of him there were three men felt like a complete outsider. I was the minority.
sitting on the sidewalk a bit further back. They I was the rich USD student and they were the
all made sure that they had their heads turned poor migrants, lucky enough to have survived
or somehow did not have their faces in the pic- the trip across the border. It made me think of all
ture. When I was looking at the pictures later I that I have,how lucky I am to live here with all
was thinking about how noble he looked. He the opportunities that I have. But it made me sad
was a campesino(peasant) from Guerrero and to think that just because these men live on the
had a job waiting in Pennsylvania picking other side of a line,they could not have the same
strawberries. He was going so that he could opportunities. It was very awkward; at the same
make money to send home so that his children time it was a great experience. It really helped
could continue their schooling. He was really the information that we have learned come alive.
proud that he had come all this way and was I actually saw the altar that is in the book
trying to go to work for his family. Because he Shadowed Lives. I heard the stories of the men
viewed his journey in this manner I feel that is and where they were coming from and whom
why he was so confident,sincere,and noble in they had left behind. It was truly touching.
38
Power and Privilege
This reflection comes from a White student who so choose, because I do not need him or his
early in the class established herself as “very patri- country, but he would risk his life to enter
otic” and somewhat uncomfortable with the mine. It is thus my responsibility to be aware
migrant-centered perspective from which I taught of the power I bring to the relationship,and do
what I can to acknowledge we are still equals.
the class. I empathize with her sense of self-
described “awkwardness”in the migrant camp con- By acknowledging his difference and naming his
text. The sense she experienced is similar to the one
own dimension of privilege (his Whiteness and
most ethnographers experience in a new context.
social class position),he conveys sensibility to axes
This feeling of being a “stranger,”in a sense glimps-
of power,rare to find in an undergraduate student.
ing what it may feel like to be the Other,is a useful
Another student shared the following story:
one. Inhabiting this space of discomfort, I would
argue, is a critical component to understand the Serving meals at Casa Migrante, I made eye
migrants’plight. It is truly a painful space to occupy, contact and exchanged “Buenos Dias”with the
people in line. I found it odd at first that not
for it is precisely at a moment when a student is not
everyone thanked us, or said anything when
in her safe, secure space, that she can begin to feel
they received their meal. Some scowled and
what it is like to cross a border (see also Skilton-
were quick to take their food. I thought about
Sylvester & Erwin,2000).
this for a while and then tried to put myself in
Theme Three:Examining Subjectivities their place, waiting in line for hours for their
small lunch. I realized that this was as much
While some students found the literal and their food as it was mine; I was just the one
metaphoric border crossings to be somewhat unset- behind the counter on the serving side rather
tling,because they had never experienced a marked than in line on the receiving side. Why should
sense of Otherness, other students delved into the they have to thank me? I almost feel guilty now
experience,using it as a basis for self-examination. thinking that they should have.
One student, for example, a White male, achieved
Sometimes the service interaction does not produce
remarkable analytical depth in his narrative. He
“good feelings” as in the above example. The stu-
theorizes his own identity in light of his meeting
dent had spent her Saturday afternoon waiting to
with the migrant:
serve the migrants and she felt they were ungrateful
When I take this into Tijuana and sit down to for their food. The awkwardness of the encounter,
dinner with a migrant who will be crossing the however, enabled her to glimpse migrants’percep-
border illegally in a matter of days,I am very tions of the interaction. Through this exchange we
aware of my own circumstances. Here I am,a see that the student reflected on her role, feeling
22 year-old man who has everything the 26 somewhat powerless, guilty, and embarrassed that
year-old man in front of me wants. The differ-
the exchange did not produce the anticipated effect.
ence between us is a matter of appearances and
She began to understand how humbling it might be
location of birth. Those two things have deter-
to be a migrant. Perhaps she was also made aware of
mined in many ways what the rest of our lives
how humiliating it can be to experience the waiting:
have been like,and will continue to be. As we
talk about ex-girlfriends and his kids, and waiting to receive,imagining what it feels like to be
eventually the act of crossing the border,I con- the object of a more powerful gaze.
tinue to be haunted by my privilege and power.
Discussion: Constructing and
I noticed that he would seldom look me in the
eye, that he was more than willing to speak Deconstructing Borders
English instead of Spanish. I felt a sense of
As a teacher and scholar of border studies,I con-
power and belonging even though I was in his
country. I actually felt that I had a right to be struct how my students think about and relate to
there because of my material wealth, and of Mexico. Am I also complicitous in constructing the
course,my Whiteness,even as we talked about border? Does service-learning reinscribe the bor-
his fight against a country that believes he does der,or help break it down?
not have the right to come in; my country,the The physical border,as a material space between
U.S. ... The man I ate dinner with may be in the
the United States and Mexico,exists. Its shape is a
US working illegally at his old construction
militarized wall,manned with the latest technology
job,or he may have been caught crossing and
and it is made real by the migrants who are deter-
sent back to Tijuana. Wherever he is, I know
mined to cross. They risk their lives crossing where
that because I am a citizen of the US,and he a
the border is most porous. Yet, the U.S.-Mexico
citizen of Mexico,I will always have opportu-
nities that he doesn’t. This will always create border is also a social construction. Peter Andreas
an environment where I have more power if I (2000), in Border Games:Policing the U.S.-Mexico
39
Camacho
Divide, argues that the militarized border zone cause? To me, migrant humanity supercedes the
(Dunn,1996) is a political façade—one that serves issue of legality. Such a biased predisposition is
the intentions of politicians who have a vested perhaps at odds with my discipline’s history of pos-
interest in maintaining an image of a peaceful and itivism and attempted “objectivity.” Nonetheless, I
orderly border. While thousands of migrants are can either be constrained by this realization or
apprehended every month, the employers of the embrace it. Most practitioners of critical,participa-
migrants who create the demand for illegal labor tory action research acknowledge that such
are ignored. They are not monitored or “raided”by approaches are only slowly approximating the
the Border Patrol,as they once were. The spotlight mainstream. Meanwhile, I am honest about my
is on the permeation of the physical border itself. convictions,and allow my students to ponder these
Institutions such as agribusiness, who perpetuate issues as well. There is also a fine line in terms of
the need for migrant labor, are not the targets of how this position is conveyed to students. On the
political intervention. one hand, I want to caution them about self-right-
In my class students learn that the border is actu- eous illusions about the larger value of their contri-
ally very porous; though the United States may butions. At the very least,I want to restrain the ten-
construct a reinforced wall, migrants continue to dency to view migrants with pity, as victims, and
cross. This is not only in response to the demand
without agency. On the other, I am hopeful that
for their labor, but also due to a long history in
they at least will begin to imagine collaborative
which bi-national social networks have been
strategies of resistance. The tenets of participatory
formed. Many Mexican families live a “transna-
action research are relevant here. As Jim Thomas
tional” existence. Crossing the border is also part
(1993) suggests,
of Mexico’s national identity.
In speaking and interacting with migrants, stu- Conventional ethnographers study culture for
dents recognize the human face of migration and the purpose of describing it; critical ethnogra-
begin to understand how laws and policies affect phers do so to change it. Conventional ethnogra-
real peoples’lives. For example,now that migrants phers recognize the impossibility,even undesir-
ability, of research free of normative and other
cross the border through Arizona and California
biases, but believe that these biases are to be
deserts, a deplorable number of migrants die of
repressed. Critical ethnographers instead cele-
dehydration. Students encountered migrants who
brate their normative and political position as a
cross the borderlands by foot,gallon-size bottles of
means of invoking social consciousness and
water in hand. In Tijuana, students witnessed the
societal change. (cited in Calderón,2004,p. 90)
wooden crosses nailed upon the Mexican side of
the barrier, a physical reminder of, and memorial Though we cannot predict whether community ser-
to, the thousands of migrants who have died vice learning will perpetuate power differences,we
attempting to cross. can take steps to make students aware of this dan-
In thinking about my complicity in constructing ger. A realization of power differentials is clearly
the border,I am aware that the community service an important step in beginning to dismantle the
learning experience may reinforce negative stereo- hierarchy of social relations between server and
types of migrants. Many living in the migrant served. The trajectory begins with faculty members
camps on the undeveloped hills of San Diego, for who, as role models, highlight their collaborative
example,have no running water or basic amenities. efforts with local communities. In the classroom,
In exposing the “periphery”that the migrants occu- faculty must carry over this “collaborativist per-
py,however,I find that at least I have begun to sow spective” to their own students. This means
the seeds of conscientiousness within my students. acknowledging our own limitations and biases and
I see my own role as one that involves developing speaking openly about issues of Whiteness and
a vigilance of the injustices toward migrants. Even other dimensions of privilege. Ira Shor (1996)
though I have been accused of “bias” for not pre- argues, “power-sharing [in the classroom] reposi-
senting the perspectives of so-called “nativist” tions students from being cultural exiles to becom-
(anti-immigrant) groups,I accept the label. It is my ing cultural constituents, from being unconsulted
only strategy to resist reinscribing the border as it curriculum receivers to becoming collaborative
has been constructed. curriculum-makers” (p. 200, cited in Ochoa &
Ochoa,2004). The writing and sharing of personal
Conclusion
narratives can be one departure point to examine
A distinguished law professor asked me recently such dimensions of subjectivity. Storytelling, or
about the legality of having students interact with “counter-stories”(stories that center dimensions of
“illegal” migrants; what problems might this privilege) are tools that can be used by students to
40
