The Border Crossed Us

"The Border Crossed Us is a fascinating and important interpretation of the meaning of borders in U.S. history. Josue David Cisneros argues that borders not only delineate physical space but also define the boundaries of belonging in the United States, shifting and changing over time. . . . By using examples from different centuries, Cisneros shows that anxieties permeating from the borderline have been both adopted and resisted across the United States at various points in time. Ideas of belonging and social identity shifted with the boundaries along the way. He is especially adept at showing how Latinos/as have contributed to this process. . . . The book is smart, and its incorporation of a wide array of historical examples opens it to use across various disciplines."
—New Mexico Historical Review

"Josue David Cisneros’ The Border Crossed Us offers an important addition from rhetoric studies. The book provides a stellar example of rhetorical historiography applied toquestions of the U.S.–Mexico Border, citizenship, and Latina/o identity."
—Rhetoric Society Quarterly

"The Border Crossed Us offers an ambitious and instructive argument for the continued relevance of the figure of the border in U.S. public culture. Marking an important contribution to the burgeoning field of rhetorical border studies, The Border Crossed Us will both inform and provoke future scholarship on the rhetorical production of borders, citizenship, and belonging."
—Rhetoric and Public Affairs

"The Border Crossed Us illustrates that it need not be—indeed cannot be—an either/or choice between stark dichotomies; the tensions of the border cross us all, whether we acknowledge them or not, making easy or uncomplicated notions of citizenship and belonging impossible. Cisneros' work exemplifies both a faith in the struggle and in the power of critical rhetorical practice to illuminate the way."
—Quarterly Journal of Speech

“The Border Crossed Us makes a unique and significant contribution to rhetorical studies and Latina/o studies by advancing an inclusive theoretical focus on the border and the intersections between rhetoric, borders, belonging, and Latinidad. The specific case studies provide a welcome breadth of textual material that will appeal to Latina/o rhetorical and communication scholars from myriad methodological orientations.”
—Darrel Allan Wanzer, editor of The Young Lords: A Reader