Elastic and hegemonic borders and discourse theory: Mexico’s southern border

 Discourse theory is useful for understanding the creation of borders, whether material or imaginary. This paper addresses three situations on Mexico’s southern border between 2000 and 2015 in which elements of discourse theory may be applied. The outcomes were the following: 1) correlations may be made between the elements of the discourse moving from the northern to the southern border, but not in the opposite direction; 2) the process of securitising the discourse about migrants is continuous, and new securitising elements are regularly added; 3) an “elastic borders” phenomenon exists, where borders extend or retract, thereby creating new border regions; and 4) discourses around the southern border are constructed with more pejorative elements than the northern, despite the fact that crime rates are higher in the north. 

Key words: Mexico, security, development, migration, southern border, discourse theory