UC Press Blog

Toffoli discusses the images & technologies that helped construct the Border Patrol's public image, the historical roots of today's surveillance culture along the U.S.–Mexico border, & why visual history remains essential for understanding contemporary debates over immigration & state power.

Congratulations to Erica Toffoli whose article “Electric Eyes: Surveillance, Sovereignty, and the Limits of the Border Patrol’s Technocratic Vision on the U.S.-Mexico Line” has won this year's Orsi Prize, which recognizes the best research essay published in the journal "California History" each year.