TO: Professor Quezada

FROM: Jaqueline Sotomayor

DATE:March 6, 2015
SUBJECT: Cultural Tensions in a Borderland City
Research proposal
Borderlands are complex establishments. They are usually divided by a
landmark, such as the Rio Grande divides El Paso from Juarez. What
this dividing line does is it purposed in keeping certain people out, and
keeping others in. It creates outsiders and insiders, where the outsiders
are considered to be lesser. This also creates cultural tensions amongst
the people inhabiting this place.
My questions are:
How do these cultural tensions manifest into the lives of individuals
living in El Paso and Juarez?
Why are they not discussed more in depth outside of academic
settings?
How can theory be taken into practice and information be more readily
available to those who are not privileged enough to gain access to the
tools that a collegiate education often provides?
What are the historical, socioeconomic, and political factors that affect
behavioral relationships, and the evolution of culture?