Cross-Border Tourism and Community Solidarity at a Militarized Border: A Photo Elicitation Approach
研究美墨军事化边境上社区团结如何影响跨境旅游和边境过程，通过照片启发法收集21位美墨参与者数据，发现双边团结促进遗产共享，边境因军事化强化、因旅游和合作软化。
Despite increased militarization along international borders, border communities share elements of natural and cultural heritage. This shared heritage invokes a form of solidarity whose influence on cross-border tourism and bordering processes is understudied. The purpose of this study is to analyze how community solidarity influences tourism and border processes at the highly militarized U.S.-Mexico border by using photo-elicitation. Data were collected from 21 participants from Mexico and the U.S. A direct and indirect analysis of the interviews and photos found major themes and common focal points within photos, and the findings demonstrate binational solidarity for heritage and a desire for sharing this heritage with visitors. The paper contributes a conceptual framing of how borders are reinforced through militarization and softened through tourism, cross-border collaboration, and biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration. The implications of these findings for border theories and frameworks are discussed in further detail.