Reimagining the U.S.-Mexico Border: Transcending Boundaries through Multimodal Storytelling

The U.S.-Mexican border encompasses many aspects of human and non-human lives—migration, home, dislocation, environmental change, and possibilities for seeing the world in diverse ways. Because of this, border issues can be difficult to grasp fully and understand, even for adults. ​

In this 2025 NEH Summer Institute, K-12th grade educators representing diverse contexts will use the power of storytelling to investigate the U.S.-Mexico border. By interweaving multimodalities - visual, sound, and movement and with reading children’s literature deeply, participants will create complex narrative tapestries of experience and empathy on the border that they will, in turn, use to support student conversations and conceptions.​