Eight watersheds connect the U.S. and Mexico. These natural systems remain interconnected, across our shared land border. As part of a series of research guides created through a collaboraton between the Mexicali Biennial Creative Team and Reference Librarians in the Hispanic Reading Room of the Library of Congress, this Research Guide explores the histories, belief systems, and landscapes that characterize the U.S.- Mexico border. Recognizing that this border can be mapped as a palimpsest both geographically and linguistically, or as an area that shifts ecologically and ideologically, we have identified five ways to interpret the historical, environmental, political, and imagined borderlands.

We curated materials from the kaleidoscope of primary sources offered by the Library of Congress with the hope of inspiring new questions and investigations into our ideas about borders, nature, and The West.

Explore each of this guide's sections to learn more:

• Indigenous Landscapes
• The Engineered West
• Extractive Industries in the U.S. West
• Deserts Homelands and Colonial Fantasy
• Invention of Mexico and Mexicans

Learn more about the MexiCali Biennial

• MexiCali Biennial External
• Blogpost: Expanding the Borders of Art: Creative Collaborations with the MexiCali Biennial