About Bertha

Growing up in a border town was a challenge that puzzled me during childhood.

After my parents divorced, we moved from Mexico City to Matamoros Tamaulipas, on the eastern end of the border with Texas. That sudden change made me realize the social complexities present along the U.S.-Mexico border, which I could not fully understand as a child.

In the beginning, the images came with dissonance and surprise. I never realized my place as a fronteriza until I looked deep into the mirror of the border.

 

I’m an Assistant Professor of Sociology at New Mexico State University.

I earned my Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder, where I was an affiliate in the Institute of Behavioral Science for the CU Population Center

 

My work specializes in multiple conceptualizations of violence, immigration, and policies regulating migration and asylum. My areas of research and teaching expertise include international migration, race and ethnic relations, the social dimensions of immigration policies, U.S.-Mexico border relations, undocumented migration, and qualitative research.

My research focuses on two main areas: the impacts of state power on migrant and border lives, and the production and reproduction of violence, especially on the U.S-Mexico border.

I specialize in ethnographic methods, but I have also been trained in various quantitative analytic approaches. In addition to standard ethnographic techniques, my work has engaged in participant photography, where research participants document their social environment. I have also used drone and camera images as photographic evidence to create interacting mappings that record sites, forms, and conditions of migrant camps.

 

In addition to my scholarly pursuits, I enjoy honoring and celebrating my cultural heritage by exploring traditional Northern Mexican cuisine, always trying to master new recipes.

I also love photography. I love to have a camera on my hands (or in the air).

To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding. The art to find the little things. It is an instrument of intuition and spontaneity.

  • Resaca, Rancho Viejo Texas

    Drone Photography

  • Northern Mexican Cuisine

    Grandma’s Flour Tortillas recipe

  • Rio Grande Valley

    Landscape photography

 
 
 

Current Location

Brownsville, Texas

&

Matamoros, Tamaulipas