Signs Preceding the End of the World

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Consider the division between the Global North and the Global South. What do these terms refer to? What other components, besides geography, contribute to the division of these hemispheres? Provide examples of countries located in the Global North and the Global South.

Teaching Suggestion: This question orients students with the geographic content of the novel: the “North” and the “South,” which Herrera uses as metonyms for the US and Mexico, respectively. The concept of North and South also refers to the wider discussion of the division between more economically advanced countries (i.e., the “North”) and developing/economically disadvantaged countries (i.e., the “South”), many of which were former colonies of “Northern” empires historically. As migrant flows tend to move from Global South to Global North countries, Herrera’s use of metonyms is a wider commentary on global migration in contemporary society. You may want to point out that while Mexico is technically located in the northern hemisphere geographically, the theory of the Global North/South division considers it a country of the Global South.