US-Mexico Borderlands

米国1924年移民法におけるメキシコ人 : 1920年代におけるメキシコ人移民国別割当論争と米墨国境管理問題 (2006)

by Yuki Oda

Jesuit Missionaries, Environmental Transformation, and Indian Ethnogenesis in the Lagoon March of Northeastern New Spain

by J. Gabriel Martinez-Serna

To be presented at the 2012 Rocky Mountain Council on Latin American Studies Conference on Park City, Utah, March 28-April1, 2012

In the northeast corner of New Spain, the frontier province of Nueva Vizcaya included the region between the present... more In the northeast corner of New Spain, the frontier province of Nueva Vizcaya included the region between the present day city of Torreon and the old provincial capital of Saltillo. It is a region of sandy soil with little precipitation, covered mostly by desert scrub dotted with occasional watering holes and surrounded in three sides by the Sierra Madre and Sierra de Coahuila. Two rivers, the Nazas and the Aguanaval, reach their end in the area, and their flow helps sustain livestock and intensive agriculture, even though their affluent is not yearlong. The area is commonly referred to, rather incongruously, as the Comarca Lagunera (Lagoon March), though the aridity of the surrounding area makes for a jarring comparison between the name and physical reality.
The origins of the term come from colonial times: it was the nucleus of the immense Marquisate of San Miguel de Aguayo, the largest entailed estate in the borderlands (hence the term Comarca, the landed property of a Marquis); secondly, at the time of contact between Spaniards and Indians of the region in the second half of the sixteenth century, the area was a lush lacustrine environment sustaining the largest population of Indians in Mexico’s colonial north, the Lagunero Indians.
This unique lacustrine environment teeming with heathen Indians seemed like a promising area for establishing a mission, but its economic potential also attracted secular Spanish settlement. Within a couple of generations it would be transformed by European agriculture accompanied by an even more dramatic change in the demographic profile of the region. By the end of the seventeenth century, the Parras mission had been secularized into a frontier parish, the Jesuits had changed their mission into a colegio, and the local economy was providing wine to a frontier market that stretched for hundreds of square kilometers. The Jesuits were not the only actors who brought about these changes, but they were the most consequential.
The introduction of European agriculture and livestock transformed the natural and human landscape of the Americas profoundly. In the borderlands of the continent, it was often missionaries who introduced these practices to areas where mobile Indians groups had adapted their cultures to an environment that was irrevocably changed. Transforming a landscape usually doomed a mobile ethnic group to forced adaptation, migration or extinction, but could also prove a catalyst to an ethnogenesis that could not have occurred without the effects the Columbian exchange brought about by the missionaries. The so-called Lagoon March (Comarca Lagunera) of the northeastern borderlands of New Spain experienced perhaps the most dramatic of these episodes in the story of Colonial North America. This region was home to the Lagunero Indians, the most populous pre-contact group in the borderlands, and as late as the last decade of the sixteenth century it was a lush lagoon environment surrounded by wooded mountains. The Jesuits founded the Parras mission there in 1598, and within two generations, the Laguneros had largely disappeared, and the area was transformed into a highly productive oasis surrounded by scrub barely suitable for livestock. Viticulture made the area the richest non-mining region of the entire frontier, and a magnet for population. Tlaxcalan (Nahua) colonist that had lived in the mission and survived the Lagunero extinction became a borderlands community intrinsically attached to viticulture and communal rights to water from the region’s only major spring, giving them a legal status that distinguished them from other Indian groups (including other Tlaxcalans) and underlined a social cohesion that lasted until the Independence period. Thus, the unintended effects of the Jesuit presence transformed the Parras environment and the way Indian identity related to it.

Access to healthcare for" undocumented citizens" in the Rio Grande Valley

by Milena Melo

Santo Toribio: The Rise of a Saint

by Tom Evans

MA Thesis - University of Denver, Religious Studies

Santo Toribio (1900-28) was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 2000 as a martyr of Mexico’s bloody Cristero... more Santo Toribio (1900-28) was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 2000 as a martyr of Mexico’s bloody Cristero Rebellion. He enjoyed a modest local following for decades after the Rebellion as many of the other Cristero martyr-saints did. However around the time of his canonization, a new identity began to emerge different from that of martyr; he became the patron saint of immigration. For believers, Santo Toribio helps mitigate the criminal nature of this act by showing God’s approval and blessing. He places the pain and social distortion of Border crossing in Roman Catholic contexts of holiness and divine intervention. This thesis begins to catalog and analyze the nature of Santo Toribio’s unofficial patronage.

AN OPEN LETTER TO CAMERON COUNTY COMMISSION

by MARGO TAMEZ

Published in The Crit Legal Studies Journal, Vol. 2, Issue 1, Winter 2009

"Fuck the Border"? Music, Gender and Globalisation

by Samuel Dwinell

"Tatuajes y (geo)políticas corporales de la memoria en un contexto migratorio" En: Francisco de la Peña M. (coord.), Cuerpo, enfermedad mental y cultura, México, ENAH-INAH-Conaculta, 2009.

by Abeyamí Ortega

El presente volumen, compuesto por trabajos con una común vocación interdisciplinaria que conjuga la mirada... more El presente volumen, compuesto por trabajos con una común vocación interdisciplinaria que conjuga la mirada antropológica con aquella derivada de la clínica psiquiátrica, psicológica y psicoanalítica, surge de una inquietud: abordar los nexos entre cuerpo, desorden mental y cultura.
Producto de un esfuerzo colectivo, los trabajos aquí reunidos abarcan tópicos variados: las concepciones del cuerpo, la persona y la enfermedad mental; la eficacia simbólica y los poderes de la cura; la alteridad, la sexualidad y el cuerpo en el mundo prehispánico; los términos referidos a la locura entre los mayas de la época colonial; el cuerpo y los desordenes mentales en contextos migratorios; el tatuaje y su relación con las identidades culturales transfronterizas; el cuerpo y diferentes tipos de violencia; el cuerpo y los trastornos afectivos en el marco de las instituciones psiquiátricas.
Se pretende con esta antología hacer accesibles investigaciones de un terreno poco explorado en nuestro país, el de la etnopsiquiatría, que puedan ser atractivas tanto para especialistas como para un público más amplio interesado en comprender las imbricaciones existentes entre cultura, psiquismo y cuerpo, que constituyen por doquier el nudo en el que se tejen múltiples configuraciones sociales, históricas y simbólicas.

Retos culturales de México frente a la globalización

by Abeyamí Ortega

Coord: Arizpe, Lourdes
Colección: Las Ciencias Sociales. Segunda Década
Series: Conocer para Decidir
Área: Globalización
Materia: Globalización cultural Mexicanos en los Estados Unidos Mujeres-Empleo Indígenas – cultura Cultura popular – México Política cultural – México
Coeditor(es): H. Cámara de Diputados, LIX Legislatura.
ISBN: 970-701-879-8
NO. de catálogo: 042615-01
Edición: octubre de 2006

Autores: Néstor García Canclini, Florence Toussaint, Abeyami Ortega Domínguez, Edith Pérez Flores, Cristina Amescua,  Ma. Eugenia Ramírez Parra, Héctor Tejera Gaona, Astrid Juárez Tapia, María Ana Portal, Raúl Béjar, Héctor Rosales, Mercedes Pedrero Nieto, Iris Meza Bernal, Cristina Oehmichen, Adriana González Mateos, Maya Lorena Pérez ruiz, Luis Manuel Arias Reyes, Marcos Sandoval Cruz, Blanca González Rosas, Esther Hernández Palacios, Gilberto Gutiérrez, Ishtar Cardona, Josefa Guzmán Bulnes, Tiosha Bojórquez Chapela, Cristina Amescua, Enrique Nalda, Ana Rosas Mantecón, Rafael Segovia, Eduardo Nivón Bolán, Hiram Villalobos Audifred, Arturo I. Saucedo González, Carlos J. Villaseñor Anaya.

Frente a la globalización levantamos la mirada hacia fuera de las fronteras de México para captar y analizar los... more Frente a la globalización levantamos la mirada hacia fuera de las fronteras de México para captar y analizar los nuevos desafíos que enfrentamos en esta era global. Lo que vemos, a través de los estudios incluidos en este libro, es que hay que cambiar la percepción común sobre lo que pasa en México con la globalización cultural. Ni las relaciones culturales de los mexicanos con procesos globales son nuevas, ni su impacto es siempre negativo. Al contrario, dinamiza porque presenta nuevos retos.

Antropología de las fronteras. Alteridad, historia e identidad más allá de la línea.

by Abeyamí Ortega

Materia: Frontera – México – Estados Unidos - México Etnicidad Globalización cultural Migración
Coeditor(es): El Colegio de la Frontera Norte.
ISBN: 978-970-701-939-3
NO. de catálogo: 133055-01
Edición: junio de 2007
Encuadernación: rústica
Páginas: 384 pp.
Medidas: 17 X 23 cm
Peso: 500 g.
Textos: Introducción por Miguel Olmos Aguilera. Textos por Francisco de la Peña Martínez, Abeyami Ortega Domínguez, Eugeni Porras Carrillo, Rafael Pérez-Taylor, María Eugenia Jurado Barranco, Miguel Olmos Aguilera, Adriana Cruz Manjares, Ana Bella Pérez Castro, Tiosha Borjórquez Chapela, Guillermo Alonso Meneses, Jesús Aguilar Nery, Guillermina Yankelevich, Lawrence Douglas Taylor Hansen, Lucila del Carmen León Velazco, Mario Alberto Magaña Mancillas, Alejandro Aguilar Zéleny, Leticia Bibiana Santiago Guerrero, Everardo Garduño y Neyra Patricia Alvarado Solís.

El propósito de esta obra es presentar trabajos que interpretan la realidad cultural e histórica de la relación entre... more El propósito de esta obra es presentar trabajos que interpretan la realidad cultural e histórica de la relación entre México y Estados Unidos. Las sociedades que se encuentran en la frontera son analizadas para obtener información sobre la percepción de sus individuos, descubriendo así el papel de la antropología en la frontera. El libro presenta los resultados de las nuevas investigaciones teóricas y empíricas desde el punto de vista antropológico, etiológico e histórico, las cuales arrojan información suficiente para medir algunos de los fenómenos culturales así como aspectos de unidad y diversidad cultural.

Vehicle Theft and Recovery in Texas Cities Along the United States-Mexico Border

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Gallahan, Russell L., "Vehicle Theft and Recovery in Texas Cities Along the United States-Mexico Border" (1997). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 142.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/142

A Model Approach for Effective Emergency Telecommunication Architecture for Texas Border Cities

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Gutíerrez, Juan Pablo, "A Model Approach for Effective Emergency Telecommunication Architecture for Texas Border Cities" (2006). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 114.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/114

PURPOSE: The Texas-Mexico border region is considered to be one of the most important borders in the world because of... more PURPOSE: The Texas-Mexico border region is considered to be one of the most important borders in the world because of the land area it covers, the large amount of international trade that occurs as a result of NAFTA, and the high rates of legal and illegal immigration that can be observed at any given time. Because of these reasons, the Texas-Mexico border is vulnerable to man-made or natural disasters. And because disasters can occur anywhere and at anytime, communities along the Texas-Mexico border must be prepared to effectively respond to a cross-border man-made or natural disaster. Therefore, it is important to assess and enhance current emergency telecommunications for cities along the Texas-Mexico border in the event of a cross-border catastrophe.

METHOD: The research examines and utilizes existing literature on the subject of emergency telecommunications to develop criteria for assessing and developing emergency telecommunication architecture for cross-border emergency response. The assessment focuses on public sector employees in cities along the Texas-Mexico border and their opinions concerning current cross-border emergency telecommunication infrastructure. Additionally, current local emergency management plans for cities along the Texas-Mexico border are examined as part of the assessment.

FINDINGS: The research findings suggest that effective emergency telecommunication infrastructure for cross-border emergency response is lacking along the Texas-Mexico border. The findings specifically address deficiencies in the areas of interoperability, survivability, security, and international connectivity, which are essential for effective cross-border emergency response and emergency response efforts in general.

Binational Water Management: Perspectives of Local Texas Officials in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Thompson, Olivia N., "Binational Water Management: Perspectives of Local Texas Officials in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region" (2009). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 313.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/313

Purpose: The purpose of this Applied Research Project is to assess the attitudes and opinions of local Texas... more Purpose: The purpose of this Applied Research Project is to assess the attitudes and opinions of local Texas government officials that manage water resources in the U.S.-Mexico border region. Previous research on binational water management in Texas has not included the attitudes and opinions of local Texas officials in the border area. Although negotiations on binational water management take place at the level of the U.S. Department of State, the administration of binational water management strategies takes place at the local level. The inclusion of local Texas officials' attitudes and opinions will make a valuable contribution to any future debates of binational water management strategies and will be important to finding the management strategies with the most potential for success.

Method: To satisfy the research purpose, this Applied Research Project used survey research. The issues identified in the scholarly literature were used to develop two conceptual frameworks that served as the basis for the survey instrument. One hundred and seventy-two local Texas government officials that manage water resources in the U.S.-Mexico border region were administered the survey either electronically or by mail. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the results.

Findings: The results of this survey show strong support for making changes to the treaty that governs binational management of the Rio Grande. Additionally, there was support for some water conservation techniques. Further, local officials indicated that specific barriers kept them from cooperating fully with their Mexican counterparts. Lastly, local officials indicated that they use several modes of communication to educate the public on water issues and to invite the public to water policy discussions

Biopolitica della deportazione. I corpi messicani e la Grande Depressione

by Claudia Bernardi

Confluenze. Rivista di Studi Iberoamericani. Vol 3, No 2 (2011)
Biopolitics and peripheries. Violence, city, memory

Violence and periphery have always been central issues and useful keyconcepts to understand Latin-American history... more Violence and periphery have always been central issues and useful keyconcepts to understand Latin-American history transformations. This paper aims to analyse the representation of Mexicans’ body in United States, since the beginning of the Twentieth century until the Great Depression, and its role in defining the deportation inside the historical context of transformation of sovereignty. After 1929 crisis, the deportation of thousands of persons is the first massive expulsion of migrants supported by the U.S. government, a political practice that will lead to several consequences in the history of Mexico and its relation with U.S.A., besides changing completely the face of the frontier and migration itself.
Keywords: biopolitics; colonization; crisis; mexicans; migrants

Le tematiche della violenza e della periferia sono sempre state centrali nella storia latinoamericana, come chiave teorica per comprendere le sue trasformazioni. Questo articolo intende analizzare la rappresentazione del corpo dei messicani negli Stati Uniti, dall’inizio del Novecento fino alla Grande Depressione, e il ruolo che essa ha avuto nel definire la deportazione nel contesto storico di trasformazione della sovranità. Dopo la crisi del 1929, la deportazione di migliaia di persone costituisce il primo caso in cui il governo statunitense sostiene un’espulsione massiva di migranti, una pratica politica che porterà a numerose conseguenze nella storia del Messico e della sua relazione con gli U.S.A., oltre a cambiare completamente il volto della frontiera e quello della migrazione stessa.
Parole chiave: biopolitica; colonizzazione; crisi; messicani; migrante

Saltillo colonial: Orígenes y formación de una sociedad mexicana en la frontera norte (Review)

by J. Gabriel Martinez-Serna

The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 110, No. 2 (Oct., 2006), pp. 294-295

Indians, Jesuits, & Borderlands Chronicles (3 Book Review)

by J. Gabriel Martinez-Serna

Colonial Latin American Review Vol. 20, No. 3, December 2011, pp. 401-406

Indians, Jesuits, & Borderlands Chronicles (3 Book Review)

by J. Gabriel Martinez-Serna

Colonial Latin American Review Vol. 20, No. 3, December 2011, pp. 401-406

Review of Imperial, by William T. Vollmann.

by Corey E. Andrews

Working-Class Notes (Spring 2010).

The Conundrum of the Mexican-American Border

by Phillip Gresham

(Oct. 2010) Co-authored with Rodrigo Bueno Lacy & Lajla Sjadijeva. Term paper for "Geopolitics of Borders" taught by Henk van Houtum & OT Kramsch.

In this essay we shed light on the common contradictions and paradoxes that abound in the discourses (i.e. language... more In this essay we shed light on the common contradictions and paradoxes that abound in the discourses (i.e. language and practices) regarding immigration from poor to rich countries. Within the context of the Mexican-American border, we explain the historical and material sources of American anti-immigrant attitudes—which could be extrapolated to other developed countries. We also talk about how the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA) illustrates the inconsistency between the anxiety to stop immigration and the eagerness to enjoy its economic benefits. We believe that this border case in particular exemplifies why borders still matter. Sometimes maps may depict arbitrary lines that make very clear-cut divisions between one country and another, even though those artificial lines do not represent real divisions of culture, institutions, economy, social norms, law enforcement, wealth or policymaking. However, we believe that the Mexico-U.S. border does in fact reflect an accurate reality because the differences from one side of the border to the other are striking. More generally, we aim at provoking a reflection regarding how foreign policy of immigration should not be separated from its political roots, which grow out from perceptions about social realities.

Beyond Surveillance and Moonscapes: An Alternative Imaginary of the U.S.–Mexico Border Wall

by Miguel Diaz-Barriga

This article argues that visual representations of the U.S.–Mexico border wall in the popular media, including Time... more This article argues that visual representations of the U.S.–Mexico border wall in the popular media, including Time Magazine and National Geographic, portray the border region as lifeless and desolate. These representations negate the possibility of viewing the border as a dynamic and diverse area that is verdant and home to communities and rich cultural histories. The article begins with an overview of popular representations of the U.S.–Mexico border, focusing on the ways that this imagery reinforces calls for militarizing it. The authors then offer alternative representations of the border through their own anthropological photo essay of the U.S.–Mexico border wall. [Key words: border fence, Chicano/a studies, militarization, South Texas, U.S.–Mexico Border]

“Soy Mexicano”: The Creation of Mexican-American Identity in the 1920s San Antonio OKeH Recordings

by Mike D'Errico

Transatlantic Jazz Seminar
Tufts University, 2010
Instructor: Stephan Pennington

Throughout the 1920s OKeH Records pioneered the practice of “location recording,” establishing studios in major cities... more Throughout the 1920s OKeH Records pioneered the practice of “location recording,” establishing studios in major cities across the United States and recording local artists for their new “race records” series. While artists in New York, Chicago, and New Orleans gained international recognition with blues and jazz recordings, Mexican-American artists in Los Angeles and San Antonio had less radio play, working in a multiplicity of styles linked to Mexican, American, and European culture. While most of the physical recordings have been lost without being digitally archived, these significant historical documents reveal a diverse and complex hybridization of styles, reflecting the complexity of creating border identities and “In-Between” cultures which continues to this day.
Through a brief survey of the late-1920s OKeH San Antionio recordings, I will show how musicians were negotiating between Mexican, American, and European musical styles, and thus creating a public space for a Mexican-American identity. Scholarship on the subject of Mexican-American music as well as the creation of border identities tends to focus on either the pre-twentieth century Mexican corrido, or popular Norteña music starting in the mid-1930s, ignoring the stark cultural and technological changes of the 1920s which opened up many media outlets for the creation of a public Mexican-American identity. Expanding upon Maribel Álvarez’s materialist analysis of border identity, my research will highlight knowledge produced by specific histories and uses of cultural goods—in the context of the OKeH recordings—and thus expand upon the homogeneous and essentialist ontology of tradition and consciousness established by scholarship up to this point.