Permeable Boundaries

Abstract

Permeable boundaries is an intimate reflection of the past to understand the present — a contemplation of embedded histories, family, memory, grief, and borders. Coming from a geographical borderland between the westernmost frontera of Mexico and the United States, Peña distinguishes the differences between borders and fences. In imagining a different future for borderlands, permeable boundaries are in-between spaces to move through, leading to territories of love, empathy, and care, requiring a continual state of attentiveness and vulnerability. The text looks to authors such as Gloria Anzaldúa, bell hooks, and adrienne maree brown, to ask questions — What would it be to begin communally healing wounds while shifting and reconfiguring our boundaries into new formations? how do we make any place we go a space of love that allows for openings to understand one another and mending to begin?