This course examines the border as a site of political struggle and a laboratory for political innovation. It examines border struggles in the US context from a transnational perspective, reflects on theoretical perspectives informing those struggles, and develops students’ capacities for scholar-activism on issues related to borders, migration and mobilities. Against the rise of restrictive border policing, populist anti-immigrant politics, and precarious migrant labor, the course investigates the political mobilization of undocumented people, refugees, and precarious border dwellers; sanctuary and ‘no-borders’ movements; and traditions of asylum, hospitality and solidarity. It will include field trips where students will directly engage sites, actors, and agencies involved in border struggles. For the major piece of assessment, students will produce a collectively designed project.