Getting Started

About the Trip

This Odyssey was made possible by the Cynthia Cook Sandefur family, who generously support an Odyssey professorship. Faculty at Hendrix College can submit proposals for projects lasting up to three years, which include experiential learning for students. This project examines globalization and transnationalism and the U.S.-Mexico relationship. This year, we look at the border region. Each student on this trip took a course with me, Cultures of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, and wrote a series of self-selected research papers. Now, they have the chance to explore those topics at the border.

About Me (The Professor)

Before coming to Hendrix College, I lived and worked in the U.S. Southwest for many years. I worked as an archaeologist with the National Park Service before returning to school to pursue my doctorate at Arizona State University. My dissertation topic examined identity and education, and concepts of place, at the U.S.-Mexico border. I worked with school districts in Phoenix, Nogales, and Douglas, Arizona. I also worked with non-profit organizations on issues of mental health and homelessness, National Heritage Areas, and conservation ranching. Since leaving the southwest, I have been working with a colleague, Maxine Payne, to document the lives of rural women around the world. We have worked in Costa Rica, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Arkansas. Four years ago, we took students to Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora, to interview and photograph women at the border. You can see Maxine's photographs here: http://www.maxinepayne.com

Arrival

On May 19, we began our trek to the border region from Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, and Washington. None of those places were 100 degrees when we left them. As we left the airport in our gigantic van (immediately named "Morisson" by Lora and assumed to be female), the desert landscape asserted itself. Palo verde trees, Mexican bird of paradise bushes, and saguaro cacti are strikingly different from our plants at home. The plants are just a hint of the other differences we'll encounter. The border region is distinctive ecologically and culturally. I haven't told them everything I have planned for this trip, but they assure me that they like the idea that they will be surprised. I can promise that this adventure will be full of surprises for all of us.