Sample of an “identity card” created at one of the talleres (workshops) along the U.S./Mexican border introducing the Borders and Identity kit to teachers.
Sample of an “identity card” created at one of the talleres (workshops) along the U.S./Mexican border introducing the Borders and Identity kit to teachers.
Sample of an “identity card” created at one of the talleres (workshops) along the U.S./Mexican border introducing the Borders and Identity kit to teachers.
Sample of an “identity card” created at one of the talleres (workshops) along the U.S./Mexican border introducing the Borders and Identity kit to teachers.
Sample of an “identity card” created at one of the talleres (workshops) along the U.S./Mexican border introducing the Borders and Identity kit to teachers.
Sample of an “identity card” created at one of the talleres (workshops) along the U.S./Mexican border introducing the Borders and Identity kit to teachers.
Sample of an “identity card” created at one of the talleres (workshops) along the U.S./Mexican border introducing the Borders and Identity kit to teachers.

Identidad y Fronteras: Borders and Identity is a bilingual educational resource based on research and documentation from the 1993 Smithsonian Folklife Festival program and explores culture along the United States-Mexico border. Following publication in 1996, this kit was introduced to teachers and students through a series of workshops, or talleres which took place on both sides of the border in four locations and featured participants from the Festival program. Today, these resources are more relevant than ever, especially in communities grappling with negative impressions of recent immigrant populations. This kit is also an ideal tool for school groups and communities wishing to investigate the borders that mark our place in the world, and our identity within and outside of these borders. This kit was supported through funds from the Meadows Foundation.

The kit text and photos are available as PDF downloads in several forms: Entire kit (English and Spanish on facing pages); English only; Spanish only; and English and Spanish, broken into individual chapters. The PDFs are accompanied by four videos that correspond to exercises in the text (see links to the right of this page).

If you find these materials useful, or if you have any difficulty downloading or viewing them, please contact us.

See our complete resource list for more materials.

Additional Links:
Break-out Exercise: The Identity Card Exercise, available in the introductory portion of the kit, has been used successfully by CFCH educators in many settings. Try it in your classroom!

The following Smithsonian Folkways Recordings complement the Identidad y Fronteras: Borders and Identities kit and include extensive informative liner notes:

Borderlands: From Conjunto to Chicken Scratch
Taquachito Nights: Conjunto Music from South Texas
Heroes and Horses: Corridos from the Arizona Sonora Borderlands
Los Texmaniacs: Borders and Bailes
Los Texmaniacs: Texas Towns, Tex-Mex Sounds