The Borderlands of Race
Mexican Segregation in a South Texas Town
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4155695 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Raúl A Ramos (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 103 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 496-497 |
| Publication date | 2016-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of American History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8723 • E-ISSN: 1945-2314 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jahist/jaw251 |
| OpenAlex | W2809218865 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
In The Borderlands of Race the anthropologist Jennifer R. Nájera merges microhistorical analysis and participant-observer anthropology to uncover the development and dismantling of racial segregation of ethnic Mexican people along the Texas border. Nájera utilizes the small town of La Feria, Texas, to reveal the institutional and cultural structures that shaped social relations along racial lines. She argues that the Mexican community there found ways to counter decades of segregation, and those actions facilitated integration in later years. Through historical anthropology methods, Nájera engages readers in the process of historical recovery, connecting interpretations of the past to memory of that time to reveal the deep cultural and structural impact of segregation. Nájera divides the history of segregation in La Feria into three periods: segregation in the early twentieth century, accommodation in the 1940s and 1950s, and integration beginning in the civil rights era. The initial chapters on the development of segregation rely primarily on the literature on Chicano history. Nájera connects this literature to the development of racially segregated institutions in La Feria, mainly through housing, public education, and the Catholic Church. The construction of a Mexican school solidified institutional segregation. Yet, Nájera contrasts these developments with the community response to educate their children on their Mexican culture through fiestas patrias (public holidays) and a system of escuelitas (private preschools taught in Spanish
Accommodation · Art · Ethnic group · Ethnology · Historical memory · Humanities · Mexican americans · Oral history · Political science · Race (biology · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Latin American and Latino Studies · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.29 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2019 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |