The University of Arizona Press
April 21, 2026
Frontera Madre(hood): Brown Mothers Challenging Oppression and Transborder Violence at the U.S.-Mexico Border editors Cynthia Bejarano and Maria Cristina Morales were interviewed on the Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club Youtube channel.
Asked about the meaning of the words “Frontera Madrehood,” Morales said, “Frontera Madrehood encapsulates three concepts. First, ‘frontera’ is the geopolotical border that separates the United States and Mexico, but also the cultural, social, and psychological boundaries that are formed in society. ‘Madre’ refers to mothering in the Latino/Latina world, but we think of mothering . . . as the practice of raising and protecting Latinos and Latinas in a broader sense. And the ‘hood’ refers to the spaces of the borderland; and ‘hood’ is also how we make reference to the barrio, right? Our ‘hood’ being our neighborhoods. So this book is very much place-based, in this case, on the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Watch the full interview here, interview starts at 6:45.
