Las mujeres invisibles/invisible women: Identities, globalization, and Latina activists at the United States-Mexico border

This study examines the construction of socio-political identity among Mexican-American and Mexican women at the U.S.-Mexico border and their potential for forging a cross-border coalition. It pays particular attention to the way in which the women's geographic location along the U.S.-Mexico border affects the content and structure of their socio-political identities. The study describes identity formation as a dynamic process shaped by language, tradition, custom, geography, nationality, and political group membership. It makes a valuable contribution to previous attempts to understand how socio-political identity shapes mobilization efforts as well as the way in which political mobilization shapes the formation of individual and group level socio-political identities. This study also addresses the shortcomings of prior studies that fail to recognize the role of geographic location upon the formation of group identity and political mobilization efforts.