A short story about nationality, citizenship, artificial boundaries and cultural identity. “Borders” was published in T. King’s collection of short stories One Good Story, That One (1993). A boy with his mother – both of Blackfeet origin (first nations = indigenous people of North America) – are on the way from Canada to the US to visit his sister Laetitia, who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. When crossing the border, the mother is asked by the border patrol to state her nationality and answers neither “Canadian” nor “U.S. American” but “Blackfoot”. Her answer and her unwillingness to accept one or the other nationality causes bureaucratic trouble…

As the short story touches upon ethical and political topics an interdisciplinary teaching project with Ethics, Politics and Social Science is possible.

Short fiction · United States · 1993