The UH 2023 research field trip to Tijuana, Mexico, explored two distinct aspects of Tijuana: the city as a place of innovative forms of cultural and artistic production (what it may be referred to as Tijuana’s creative economies) and the city as a site of filmic representations.

For several decades, Tijuana has been a place where distinct forms of cultural and artistic production have been developed. These forms occur in different contexts, conditions, and scales and are evident on sidewalks, streets, buildings, and neighborhoods. These creative manifestations are hybrid and dynamic and are manifested in food, popular culture, design, and art.

On Saturday, we visited different Tijuana’s border “ecologies” in mini-buses guided by our local scholars and border experts Paola Rodriguez España, Jose Luis Figueroa, and Omar Foglio of the collective Dignicraft and professors Jorge Francisco Sanchez-Jofras, Christian Zuñiga Mendez, and Juan Apodaca. On Sunday, we had a mini-symposium with presentations by our Tijuana experts and a collective discussion afterward.

Works by Tijuana folks:

Fotoperiodista: Documenting Tijuana's Refugee Crisis.

Short documentary that portrays the work of the Tijuana photojournalist, Omar Martínez, covering the situation of the more than 8,000 Haitian migrants who have arrived in Tijuana in search of applying for a humanitarian visa to enter the United States.

Through the work of the photojournalist, the film addresses the issue of Haitians in Tijuana from a human perspective, and proposes a look of empathy and understanding of the phenomenon of migration. This, as a measure to avoid the reactions that promote the creation of "walls" between cultures and countries. Second place award at the 10th National Arts & Entertainment Journalism. A production of Dignicraft and KCET-Link for Artbound.

Watch online: https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/fotoperiodista-documenting-tijuanas-refugee-crisis

Pasajes

After violence desolated the city center of Tijuana starting in 2007, artists and musicians began to reimagine the function of this area, known as "El Centro" -- the historic tourist district that stretches about 10 blocks along Avenida Revolucion -- by opening small independent, largely self-funded art galleries and spaces. A production of Dignicraft and KCET-Link for Artbound.

Watch online:

https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/clip/pasajes
* La auto-representación del chicano en Born in East L. A. (artículo).

* Tijuana en el cine de México y Estados Unidos (1916-2011). La construcción de espacios ideologizados (artículo). Se trata de una síntesis de lo que propongo en el libro: https://libreriauabc.com/products/entre-atraccion-y-repulsion-tijuana-representada-en-el-cine

* Tijuana en el cine mexicano (artículo): https://revistaiconica.com/tijuana-en-el-cine-mexicano/