Riding Waves on the Mexico–United States Border: Beaches, Local Surfers and Cross-Border Processes

Abstract

This article examines the social and cultural relations that take place in surfing communities on the Mexican side of the border with the United States. Through ethnographic work with surfers from Northern Baja California, we identified different cross-border processes encouraged by this lifestyle sport: the formation of binational surfing communities, commodity circulation, localism, territorial disputes, and shared environmental problems. We point out that surfing on the border creates a system of affinities and rivalries based on the identity and nationalism, marked by the inequality and asymmetry between these two countries. This article also addresses the transnational cooperation and political actions undertaken to protect the oceans and beaches enjoyed by surfers in this border region.