Name: 【TEDx】TEDxTijuana - Dr James Gerber - Three things to know about the US-Mexico border
Uploaded: 2014-06-14T09:24:04.000Z
Duration: 17 min 1 s
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I'm the director of the undergraduate international business program

and Professor of Economics  at San Diego State University.

I want to thank IBERO for the opportunity to be here today

and to speak to a audience on the border about the border.

Something that has occupied my attention and a lot of my research

What I would like to do first  is contextualize a bit

which I think are not part  of the discourse about the border,

So let me first start by  contextualizing a little bit

The context I want to draw  is these two extremes

One extreme - nationalism, the other extreme - globalism.

the extreme nationalists and the extreme globalists.

The nationalists operate out of a way of thinking

that probably goes back to the 1950's or the 1960's.

The cold war, the nation state as the unit of analysis.

There is Mexico,  there is the United States,

two sovereign nations, two separate independent entities.

with very different reasons for existence,

with very different ideas,  cultures, societies and so forth.

Not a lot of overlap in the nationalist view,

not a lot of need for overlap in that view.

if that's the way you think  then come to Fashion Valley

and wander around a bit  and listen to the people

on El Cajon Blv. there's a market,  Pancho Villa's farmers market,

where you can get mangos  and 15 kinds of chilles.

You will see that this hard fast line between the United States and Mexico

isn't quite like you might think that it is.

Now most of you are here in a border audience in some sense

and probably not many of you think like that is my guess.

I mean I do find that way of thinking quite a bit

on the other side of the border, in the United States.

and if you think that there isn't then do the following exercise

go to Fashion Valley,  go to Nordstrom's or Macy's

and when you go to buy, whatever it is you are going to buy,

innocent face, very straight,  and you say,

Here is what happens,  they look at you and think,

"Oh, this person is joking or something."

So you keep a straight face,  very innocent and say,

I just ask because I was in Tijuana yesterday

and they take dollars so I thought you might take pesos."

Then they are a little bit disgusted by that thought.

Actually, just parenthetically,  let me say

I think this is a real opportunity  for businesses in San Diego.

I think it would be smart of them to take pesos for a variety of reasons.

because it tells you a lot about  how some people think about the border.

This should be a cautionary tale for globalists,

for the people who think the world is flat,

for people that think  there is really no difference,

You ask this person who's told you that they don't take pesos

"I just thought maybe because  we are so close to the border

And sometimes you get  the following response:

"We are not near the border! Thats way far from here!"

But this tells you about  how many people look at San Diego/Tijuana.

It's a barometer of some part of the population's perspective.

OK, so we've got the nationalists,  we've got the globalists,

We are not 100% separate  with soley national concerns,

between San Diego and Tijuana  and everyone has the same opportunities

and the same advantages  on both sides of the border.

Thats not an accurate description either.

Many people live in San Diego and never think about the border,

and the idea to them is slightly absurd to think about it.

Now, three points  that I want to make about this

that I think are not part  of the national discourse

Subtitles ListPlay Video

【TEDx】TEDxTijuana - Dr James Gerber - Three things to know about the US-Mexico border

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people

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extreme