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Unquestionably, the U.S.-Mexico border has an
image problem. Many people associate the region with gaudy
tourist districts, unsavory bars and nightclubs, tasteless curio
shops, cheap liquor stores, "hustlers" of many shades,
uncontrolled illegal migration, large-scale smuggling of drugs,
ethnic tensions, and general disorder. There is some truth to
these uncomplimentary characterizations, of course, but fronterizos
(borderlanders) live in an environment that is infinitely
more complex than superficial caricatures suggest.
Both the U.S. side and the Mexican side
replicate the political, economic, social, and cultural systems
of their respective nation-states. At the same time,
borderlanders have blended the structures, institutions, and life
expressions of the two societies to create something novel and
entirely theirs—the ambiente fronterizo, or
borderlands milieu. Today the area stands as a prime example of
binational interdependence, providing striking evidence of the
trend toward closer ties among the world's nations and societies.
Transborder interdependence is rooted in the
economic interaction that has existed between the United States
and Mexico for several generations. In a functional sense, two
systems have combined to produce one order that is quite distinct
from those of the two parent societies, and a population whose
lifestyles differ considerably from what is found in heartland
zones.
Out of economic necessity, as well as personal
desire to venture into "other worlds," border Mexicans,
Mexican Americans, and Anglo Americans intermingle at close
range, borrowing from and contributing to each other's way of
life. That three-way association, ranging from superficial
contact to intimate relations, has produced unique patterns which
comprise key components of what is commonly referred to as
"border culture."
Fundamentally, border culture, or the border
"way of life," is rooted in the influences that the
boundary exerts on fronterizos. First, borderlanders are
surrounded by internationality; they go from one nation to the
other frequently on shopping trips, on business, or for leisure.
Transnational interaction is normal and routine. Second, they are
accustomed to dealing with conflicts spawned by the border itself
or by larger international controversies. Fronterizos know
the border is a flash point and they are used to putting out
fires. Third, border people are adept at ethnic interaction; over
several generations they have learned how to transcend group
differences. These experiences then are central elements in the
values, thinking, and behavior of border people.
But other factors play a significant role, as
well. Regionalism, an important variable in the configuration of
the borderlands, is evidenced in the expression of U.S.
Southwestern and Mexican norteño cultural styles. We can
identify distinct subregions, each with its own characteristics
shaped by local environmental factors and contact with the
outside world. Above all, the singularity of the border
population rests on the many traits that derive from its
sub-groups, including cross-borrowing of such things as language,
religion, customs, traditions, holidays, foods, clothing, and
architecture. In short, U.S.-Mexico border culture may be said to
be the sum product of forces and influences generated by the
boundary itself, by regional phenomena, and by the
transculturation shared by Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and Anglo
Americans.
Border culture is most vibrant in the core zone
of the borderlands, or the strip of territory where the border
cities are situated. Beyond this area, there is a secondary domain
where border culture is strongly felt; important cities in the
Texas-Mexico region include San Antonio, Houston, Monterrey, and
Saltillo. Each of these centers feels the import of the other
side of the border through constant migration flows. The impact
of the border diminishes in the interior of each nation, but
selected spheres of influence are readily apparent. For example,
in the United States, places like Denver and Chicago have large
Mexican American populations who maintain steady contact with the
borderlands. An important part of that contact is carried on by
migrants who constantly travel between Mexico and the interior
United States. Within Mexico, cities with cultural connections to
the border include Guadalajara and Mexico City, to name two large
cities, and hundreds of towns and villages that send emigrants to
the borderlands or the greater United States.
It is only to be expected that the vastness of
the borderlands assures significant sub-regional variation in the
manifestation of border culture. Hence, while fundamental
commonalities characterize the lifestyles of borderlanders
regardless of their location, local peculiarities shape the
cultures of different places in distinct ways. For example, the
New Mexico/West Texas-Chihuahua borderlands exhibit cultural
patterns characteristic of an isolated high desert zone and a
population heavily dependent on the major rivers in the region,
i.e., the Rio Grande, Pecos River, and Rio Conchos. Cultural
strains from Chihuahua and New Mexico are strong here, but
mainstream Mexican and U.S. influences have made their presence
felt in recent years with the arrival of many immigrants, and
several generations of newcomers have modified traditional
folkways of the region. Migration is of particular importance
because this zone has served as a major corridor between central
Mexico and the U.S. Southwest for centuries.
East along the Rio Grande, the South
Texas-Northeastern Mexico borderlands manifest influences arising
from a sub-tropical climate, a large agricultural and ranching
society, and a strong mix of Texas Anglo culture with Mexican
norteño culture, i.e., "Tex-Mex" culture. The mix of
these strains is illustrated in "Tex-Mex" music which combines instruments and
sounds from both nations. As in other border locales, deep and
widespread poverty constitutes an important variable in the
shaping of the culture of this zone.
Few who reside on the Mexican side of the
border are able to escape the overwhelming influence of the
United States, and consequently, most Mexican borderlanders have
direct or indirect ties to Americans. Such links have resulted in
heavy consumption of U.S. products and popular culture, but that
does not necessarily imply a corresponding loss of national
identity; Mexicanness, as a rule, remains strongly embedded among
all Mexican fronterizos, regardless of their external
orientations.
On the U.S. side, vast numbers of Mexican
Americans maintain substantial bonds with Mexico, and they live
bicultural and transnational lifestyles to a far greater degree
than any other sector of the borderlands population. Out of
economic necessity and by the sheer force of the U.S. "melting pot"
phenomenon, most Mexican American borderlanders, including many
first-generation immigrants, have learned the English language
and have absorbed large doses of American culture. At the same
time, the proximity to Mexico has assured strong adherence to the
Spanish language and Mexican culture. Generally speaking then,
with some exceptions, Mexican American borderlanders are
transnational in outlook and behavior.
By contrast, relatively few Anglo American
borderlanders manifest transnational characteristics, although
some do interact in a substantive way with Mexicans and Mexican
Americans. The low incidence of transboundary interaction and
biculturalism among Anglos is principally explained by the lack
of a compelling economic need to cross the border, learn Spanish,
or become familiar with Mexican culture. Those who do have such a
need are generally the ones who speak Spanish and function
comfortably in Mexican American and Mexican circles. But there
are Anglos who have become bilingual and bicultural, and who
participate in transnational activities for personal reasons
rather than economic self-interest.
Based on the level of transboundary contact,
the border population may be divided into two general types: (l)
national borderlanders and (2) transnational borderlanders.
National borderlanders are people who, while subject to foreign
economic and cultural influences, have minimal or superficial
contact with the opposite side of the border owing to their
indifference to their next-door neighbors or their unwillingness
or inability to function in any substantive way in another
society. Transnational borderlanders, on the other hand, are
individuals who maintain significant ties with the neighboring
nation; they seek to overcome obstacles that impede such contact
and take advantage of every opportunity to visit, shop, work,
study, or even live on the "other side." Thus, their
lifestyles strongly reflect foreign influences. For some
transnational borderlanders, such influences are modest, but for
those who are seriously immersed in transborder interaction,
foreign links govern central parts of their lives. Ambivalence
over national identity and loyalty certainly exists among some
individuals heavily immersed in transnational interaction, but
for most, that appears not to be a major problem. The fact that
Mexico and the United States maintain a relatively friendly
relationship tends to mitigate self-doubt or guilt stemming from
intimate contact with the "other side."
Varying factors determine whether borderlanders
are "national" or "transnational," including
length of residence in the borderlands, ties with interior areas,
occupation, sources of income, level of education, family
networks, and social relationships. It must also be kept in mind
that the border population includes both permanent and
semi-permanent residents, plus large numbers of transients who
spend little time in the border communities. Population fluidity
and turnover are especially strong on the Mexican side. The
longer a person lives at the border, the higher the chances that
she/he will be caught up in transnational processes. Consequently,
long-term border residents are more likely to reflect
transnational characteristics than newcomers.
At one end of the border population spectrum
are people who, by circumstance or choice, are largely unaffected
by the border milieu, and at the other are individuals whose
lives revolve around it. Many who adhere to a strictly national
and unicultural perspective have surrounded themselves with walls
to keep out the hybridizing influences of the border. By
contrast, those with a transnational orientation have built
bridges that enhance and promote binational and bicultural
symbiosis. That is the essence of core borderlanders, those
transnationals who most exemplify the fusion of the two
societies.
Core borderlanders have successfully adjusted
to the innate instability generated by a boundary born of extreme
territorial and cultural animosity and sustained, in more recent
times, by great economic disparity between the two nations. They
have found ways of making the border permeable and different
cultural worlds accessible. They have developed attitudes,
values, and behavioral strategies that allow them to move swiftly
between two nations and from one cultural group to another.
In day to day relations, core borderlanders have
collaborated to keep the channels of international communication
open and to hold border-related disagreements to manageable
levels. Those with a high degree of cultural versatility have
provided leadership in the networks that bind the area’s
major groups to one another. Constant movement in and out of
different cultural milieus has allowed core borderlanders to
develop expertise about the ways of others and sensitivity to
their concerns. Aware of the perspectives of people from both
sides of the border, many core borderlanders have been prompted
to look beyond their own national interest, to examine problems
in broad context, and to take into consideration the implications
of parochial policies and actions.
In pursuing transnational interaction and
multiculturalism, they have overcome long-standing rivalries
between the two countries and the sting of racial and cultural
biases. Living in an environment of uncertainty and
unpredictability, they have developed a high tolerance for
ambiguity and mechanisms for coping with it. In short, core
borderlanders have discarded fears, inhibitions, and prejudices
that afflict people with a national or ethnic-specific
orientation.
The patterns of behavior among borderlanders,
both positive and negative, are a product of powerful forces that
have long been reshaping two societies and molding a social
structure in which people of different cultural strands have
learned to cope and to thrive. The institutional underpinnings of
the system are so deep and so strong that attempts to diminish
transnational or transcultural interaction are exercises in
futility. The convergence of groups at the border is in concert
with the "natural order" of human relationships and,
viewed from an internationalist perspective, actually represents
a significant advance in the way people from different countries
and cultures interact with one another.
What is transpiring on the border at the
present time yields insights into what is in store in the future
on a grander scale. As free trade forges a closer relationship
between the two nations, the intensity of binational
people-to-people contact is expected to rise dramatically.
Borderlanders will feel the effect of that increased interaction
most acutely, but fewer and fewer people who reside in central
areas in both nations will be left untouched as the force of
transnationalism radiates beyond the frontier.
The border experience has great significance
for instructing us on how international cooperation and
cross-cultural accommodation can be accomplished, and how
individuals can draw strength from within themselves to
successfully overcome problems that arise from living on the
periphery, in an environment that is neither mainstream U.S.A.
or mainstream Mexico, but a variation of each. At a time when
national disintegration and extreme ethnic polarization trouble
other parts of the world, our borderlands stand out as a place
that has succeeded in transforming a once predominantly
conflictual human environment into a predominantly peaceful and
cooperative one. Such good news, amidst all the bad news we
constantly get about the border, needs to be recognized and
celebrated.
Oscar J. Martínez is Professor of History
at the University of Arizona. A detailed discussion and analysis
of the uniqueness of the border experience is found in his new
book, Border People: Life and Society in the U.S.-Mexico
Borderlands (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994).
SELECT BOOKS ABOUT THE
U.S.-MEXICO BORDER
Oscar J. Martínez
Professor of History, University
of Arizona
Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands: La
Frontera. San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute, 1987.
Conover, Ted. Coyotes: A Journey Through
the Secret World of America’s Illegal Aliens. New
York: Vintage Books, 1987.
D’Antonio, William, and William H.
Form. Influentials in Two Border Cities: A Study in
Community Decision–Making. Notre Dame: University of
Notre Dame Press, 1965.
Fernández, Raul A. The
Mexican–American Border Region: Issues and Trends.
Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989.
______. The United States–Mexico
Border: A Politico–Economic Profile. Notre Dame:
University of Notre Dane Press, 1977.
Fernández-Kelly, Maria Patricia. For We
Are Sold, I and My People: Women and Industry in Mexico's
Frontier. Albany: State University of New York, 1983.
Fowler, Gene, and Bill Crawford. Border
Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other
Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves. Austin:
Texas Monthly Press, 1987.
Gamio, Manuel. The Mexican Immigrant:
His Life Story. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1931.
García, Mario T. Desert Immigrants: The
Mexicans of El Paso 1880–1920. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1981.
Hall, Linda B., and Don M. Coerver. Revolution
on the Border: The United States and Mexico. 1910-1920.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988.
Hansen, Niles. The Border Economy:
Regional Development in the Southwest. Austin: University
of Texas Press, 1981.
Herzog, Lawrence A. Where North Meets
South: Cities, Space and Politics on the U.S.–Mexico
Border. Austin: Center for Mexican American Studies,
University of Texas at Austin, 1990.
Horgan, Paul. Great River: The Rio
Grande in North American History. 2 vols. New York:
Rinehart, 1954.
Maciel, David R. El Norte: The
U.S.–Mexican Border in Contemporary Cinema. San
Diego: Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias, San
Diego State University, 1990.
McWilliams, Carey. North from Mexico:
The Spanish–Speaking People of the United States.
Updated by Matt S. Meier. New York: Praeger, 1990.
Maril, Robert Lee. Living on the Edge of
America: At Home on the Texas–Mexico Border. College
Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1992.
Martínez, Oscar J. Border Boom Town:
Ciudad Juarez Since 1848. Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1978.
______. Border People: Life and Society
in the U.S.–Mexico Borderlands. Tucson: University
of Arizona Press, 1994.
______. Troublesome Border. Tucson:
University of Arizona Press, 1988.
Meinig, D.W. Southwest: Three Peoples in
Geographical Change 1600-1970. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1971.
Miller, Tom. On the Border: Portraits of
America’s Southwestern Frontier. New York: Harper
and Row, 1981.
Nathan, Debbie. Women and Other Aliens:
Essays from the U.S.–Mexico Border. El Paso: Cinco
Puntos, 1991.
Paredes, Américo. George Washington
Gomez. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1991.
______. "With His Pistol in His
Hand": A Border Ballad and Its Hero. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1958.
Poppa, Terrence E. Druglord: The Life
and Death of a Mexican Kingpin. New York: Pharos Books,
1990.
Price, John A. Tijuana: Urbanization in
a Border Culture. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame
Press, 1973.
Rippy, J. Fred. The United States and
Mexico. New York: Knopf, 1926.
Ross, Stanley, R., ed. Views Across the
Border: The United States and Mexico. Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press, 1978.
Ruíz, Vicki L., and Susan Tiano, eds. Women
on the U.S.-Mexico Border: Responses to Change. Boston:
Allen Unwin, 1987.
Sklair, Leslie. Assembling for
Development: The Maquila Industry in Mexico and the United
States. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
Stoddard, Ellwyn R. Maquila: Assembly
Plants in Northern Mexico. El Paso: Texas Western Press,
1987.
Timmons, W. H. El Paso: A Borderlands
History. El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1990.
Urrea, Luis Alberto. Across the Wire:
Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border. New York:
Anchor Books, 1993.
Vanderwood, Paul J., and Frank N.
Samporano. Border Fury: A Picture Postcard Record of
Mexico’s Revolution and U.S. War Preparedness.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988.
Weber, David J. The Mexican Frontier.
1821–1846. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico
Press, 1982.
______. The Spanish Frontier in North
America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
Weisman, Alan. La Frontera: The United
States Border with Mexico. Photographs by Jay Dusard.
Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1991.
BORDER STUDIES
A humanities exhibit organized
by
Texas Humanities Resource Center
Austin
Supported by Texas Commission
on the Arts, Trull Foundation, Texas Humanities Alliance
Matching support by Texas
Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National
Endowment for the Humanities
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