This volume examines how the field of Chicana/o studies has developed to become an area of interest to scholars far beyond the United States and Spain. For this reason, the volume includes contributions by a range of international scholars and takes the concept of place as a unifying paradigm. As a way of overcoming borders that are both physical and metaphorical, it seeks to reflect the diversity and range of current scholarship in Chicana/o studies while simultaneously highlighting the diverse and constantly evolving nature of Chicana/o identities and cultures.

Various critical and theoretical approaches are evident, from eco-criticism and autoethnography in the first section, to the role of fiction and visual art in exposing injustice in section two, to the discussion of transnational and transcultural exchange with reference to issues as diverse as the teaching of Chicana/o studies in Russia and the relevance of Anzaldúa's writings to post 9/11 U.S. society.

Catherine Leen is a Lecturer in the Department of Spanish at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, specialising in Mexican and Chicana/o literature and cinema and Argentine and Paraguayan cultures. Her recent publications include works on Sandra Cisneros and Guillermo Gómez-Peña.

Niamh Thornton is a Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies and Film at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. She is a Latin Americanist with a particular focus on Mexican film and literature and a key interest in the representations of conflict. She has also written about queer representations and cyberculture.