Too often, we associate the idea of borderlands as geographical areas that divide one state or country from another. Such a narrow view of borderlands is perhaps fostered by media that minimizes this concept to border crossings of illegal immigrants. We define borderlands as complex sociocultural sites in which cultures are enacted and contested and filled with multiple cultural paths that determine numerous ways of being. The stories unfolded in this special issue underscore the intent of the following pages to broaden one’s perspectives about borderlands. The authors of this issue contextualize their stories through multiple theoretical frameworks and perspectives around several topics. First, borderlands are seen as complex cultural and geographical spaces where the vestiges of White colonialism can define Otherness. Second, these places contain spaces of competing axiologies, epistemologies and ontologies that are fluid and contextualized through positional tensions between complementary or competing cultures. Third, macrogenic properties found in borderlands can mitigate a science teacher’s identity and become sites contested through Conocimiento as defined by those inhabitants who are considered others.

我们常常将边界的概念与将一个州或国家与另一个州或国家分开的地理区域联系起来。这种对边境地区的狭隘看法可能是由媒体助长的，媒体将这一概念最小化为非法移民的过境点。我们将边界地区定义为复杂的社会文化场所，文化在其中得以实施和竞争，并充满了决定多种存在方式的多种文化路径。本期特刊中展开的故事强调了以下几页旨在拓宽人们对边疆地区的看法的意图。本期的作者通过围绕多个主题的多个理论框架和观点将他们的故事背景化。首先，边境地区被视为复杂的文化和地理空间，白人殖民主义的遗迹可以定义差异性。第二，这些地方包含相互竞争的价值论、认识论和本体论的空间，这些空间通过互补或竞争文化之间的位置紧张而流动和语境化。第三，在边境地区发现的宏观属性可以减轻科学教师的身份，并成为通过Conocimiento由那些被认为是其他人的居民定义。