Book Review of The Borderlands of Race Tough in the legal level Mexican-origin people was regarded as white people, who had the full citizen rights back to the 20th century, Mexican-origin people was actually treated as the second class citizen in America who didn’t have the full access to the citizenship. The author, Jennifer R. Nájera delivers an entertaining and thoughtful account of the evolvement of racial problems among Mexican-origin people in the South Texas. The book, The Borderlands of Race, is a historical ethnography that demonstrates the suffering and resistance of Mexican-origin people following a chronical order and analyzes the Mexican segregation in the South Texas. Using interviews and local archives together with arguments …show more content…
There are two main parts in this book—the first part is about the racial segregation and the other focuses on racial integration. In the first part of the book, it explained how the segregation formed after the Mexican-American War and how the Mexican segregation accommodated social changed and individual exceptions to remain the society as an Anglo-dominated one. One interesting point proposed by Professor Nájera is that though some exceptional Mexican individuals were accepted in the Anglo society, such examples of acceptance is not de facto racial integration; instead, they show the flexibility of segregation, which indicates how ingrained and durable the segregation was. For the second part, just like the famous quote from Benjamin Franklin “Little strokes fell great oaks”, the everyday practice and effort from Mexican-origin people finally broke racial boundaries part by part and resulted in racial …show more content…
From the post Mexican-American war to late 1970s, ushers in the church always separated the seats of Mexican-origin people and the Anglos— they policed the racial boundaries among people (Nájera 2015: 135). Even more annoyingly, Mexican-origin people’s customs were not respected by the Anglos in the church. Mexican people used to have some popular religious practices, such as celebration of El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) (Nájera 2015: 45). Nevertheless, the Anglos didn’t allow their practices and criticized the Mexican-origin people for engaging in “ridiculous” activities (Nájera 2015: 46). Instead of applying the principle of culture relativism, the Anglos at that time judged Mexican people’s culture using their standards and misread the significance of Mexican people’s
In Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California, Tomas Almaguer (2009) describes how race and racism coincides to facilitate the birth of white supremacy in California during the late nineteenth century. The idea of racial formation allowed groups to establish their power and privilege over defined racial lines. For each of the three racialized groups presented Chapter one combines the historical and sociological framework to describe the transformation of Mexican California. Through highlighting the historical accounts of racialized groups, fear of potential threats to white workers creates white supremacy. He continues by describing the peopling of Anglo-CA from 1848-1900 with the immigration of Irish, German,
Gonzalez’s book is written through the lenses of the Hispanic/ Latino population. Though Gonzalez is not able to fully explain all the specifics of the entire Hispanic / Latino population when it comes to Christianity, he does a remarkable job painting a broad picture. Though this book is aimed at helping share
The Death of Josseline The book I chose to write a narrative about is called The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the Arizona Borderlands written by Margaret Regan. This book humanizes migrating families and individuals while giving us insight on an issue that Arizona has been expressively dealing with: the movement of undocumented migrants that cross into Arizona, a state who’s anti-immigrant laws are the most stringent in the nation. The border is signified as different things to different people, which can be a very different place to individuals depending on the discourse and lenses shown as focal points.
Overall, the thesis of the book is to inform the reader of the Mexican lynch victims who have not been given the same acknowledgement as other races and to tell of what “the reactions of Mexicans, whites and blacks to…that violence” (Carrigan et al 13) was during the time of the lynching.
The southwest border towns located in the southwest United States influence a dark topical narrative of human-trafficking, narco-trafficking, and femicide geographically specific to this area and the post-NAFTA time period. By a dark topical narrative, I mean the stark vulnerability and hopeful healing within a border town. According to one interpretation of border towns, drug dealing and kidnapping emerge as factors causing the disappearance of Rafa and Crucita. The Guardians by Ana Castillo clearly broadens this interpretation, characterizing four narrators, whose voices proclaim the reworking of border violence as the “murders continue” (185). Furthermore, as the novel broadens, the intense brutality along the U.S- Mexican border resulted
In _The White Scourge_, Neil Foley uses a wealth of archival materials and oral histories to illuminate the construction and reconstruction of whiteness and the connection of this whiteness to power. Focusing largely on cotton culture in central Texas, Foley 's book deconstructs whiteness through a new and detailed analysis of race, class, and gender. The most intriguing aspect of this book is its comparison of the impact of whiteness on various ethno-racial classes and how each struggled in relation to the other to develop a meaningful existence. _
Some advocated for limited Mexican immigration into the United States since they realized that they would make it difficult for them to integrate into white society because Mexicans were typically seen as “poor, dark-skinned, and did not speak English.” This shows how Mexican officials helped shape the way migration was handled as well as how they contributed to the racial subordination they faced in the United
For instance, many Latinxs are raised Catholic throughout childhood and surrounded by Catholicism in many, if not all, aspects of their lives. Thus, it can be difficult to separate one’s gender or sexuality from their Catholic cultural identity. Jack Caravez describes the role religion plays in Latinxs' understanding of who they are individually and what it means to be Latinx. Catholicism in a sense informs Latinx of their identities in terms of ethnicity, race, gender, and values, and becomes the glue for maintaining these connections (Caravez, 211). Thus, to separate or leave behind Catholicism can cause tremendous feelings of loss in who one is as a person, in this world, community, and family.
Many stories embody the cultural aspects of Mexican-Americans and their struggles with living in a discriminatory society. Stories like With
The immigrants entering the United States throughout its history have always had a profound effect on American culture. However, the identity of immigrant groups has been fundamentally challenged and shaped as they attempt to integrate into U.S. society. The influx of Mexicans into the United States has become a controversial political issue that necessitates a comprehensive understanding of their cultural themes and sense of identity. The film Mi Familia (or My Family) covers the journey and experiences of one Mexican-American (or “Chicano”) family from Mexico as they start a new life in the United States. Throughout the course of the film, the same essential conflicts and themes that epitomize Chicano identity in other works of literature
She studies their background and circumstances, explaining how “whether living in a labor camp, a boxcar settlement, mining town, or urban barrio, Mexican women nurtured families, worked for wages, built fictive kin networks, and participated in formal and informal community associations” (p. 5). These are the ways, Ruiz found, that helped Mexican American women make them part of the American society. She also talks about the attempts made by groups like Protestants that tried to civilize or Americanize the immigrant women but were unsuccessful due to the religious and community groups as well as labor unions that were formed to give them
Basically, what the authors tries to show is a strong abandonment of the government to the chronic gang violence and a big division of two group of people. “Sociologist Buford Farris likewise described the social relation between Anglos and Mexican Americans in the mid-sixties as a model of two almost separate systems”2. The division of these two group of people made that a small group of businessmen “controlled all commences and development”3. In the second part, the author gives a description of how the Chicano Movement starts getting Mexican American students and politically aware youth workers and to form the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO). Later, the women movement is going to be added to this group since they were not strong enough or they were not considered equal as the Chicanos.
“Aztlan, Cibola and Frontier New Spain” is a chapter in Between the Conquests written by John R. Chavez. In this chapter Chavez states how Chicano and other indigenous American ancestors had migrated and how the migration help form an important part of the Chicanos image of themselves as a natives of the south. “The Racial Politics behind the Settlement of New Mexico” is the second chapter by Martha Menchaca.
The country that I have chosen to write about is Mexico. Mexico is highly traditional and emphasizes family living. As I explored the Mexican culture I have determined that Mexico’s culture is made up most of collectivism. Mexican’s due value individualism. They create a close bond which they use to accomplish goals, however, the Mexican culture is more group involved thinking.
In the poem “To live in the Borderlands means you”, the borderlands become a place of change, such as changing from just one culture or race into a diverse culture or race and not-belonging. (Singh, A., & Schmidt, P. 2000). The poem describes how the author’s own background ethnicity people, mixicanas, identifies people like her, chicanas, as “split or mixture that means to betray your word and they deny “Anlo inside you.” (Anzaldua, F. 1987). The poem describes that the borderland is a place of contradiction, such as of home not being a home.