Flow and Obstruction: A History of the Tijuana River

Carolyn Schutten
History
UC Riverside

The project explores the Tijuana River through the lenses of social and environmental history and California-Mexico border politics by charting the history of the river from US-Mexico relations post-World War II to twenty-first century contemporary history. The work sheds light on international water politics and environmental justice issues by examining the overconsumption of the Colorado River by the United States, the pollution of the Tijuana River as it flows through Mexico, and the enormous effort in remediating the river as it flows backs into California and out into the Pacific. The project examines the juxtaposition of exclusionary immigration policies and collaborative environmental policies of the late twentieth century. The research also addresses riverine culture and social justice issues and attempts to understand the Tijuana River as an oppressive space of transiency and a site of competing social and environmental values.