The Mexican-Us Border: The Making of an Anthropology of Borderlands
01 Jan 1995-Annual Review of Anthropology (Annual Reviews 4139 El Camino Way, P.O. Box 10139, Palo Alto, CA 94303-0139, USA)-Vol. 24, Iss: 1, pp 447-470
TL;DR: In this paper, a review traces the development of an anthropology of borderlands, tracing the early ethnography and applied anthropology about border regions along with contemporary perspectives on reterritorialized communities and practices illustrated specifically by Mexican migration and transborder processes.
Abstract: This review traces the development of an anthropology of borderlands. The ideas of early ethnography and applied anthropology about border regions are considered along with contemporary perspectives on reterritorialized communities and practices illustrated specifically by Mexican migration and transborder processes. The argument is made that the conceptual parameters of borderlands, borders, and their crossings, stemming from work done on the Mexican-US border, in particular, illustrate the contradiction, paradox, difference, and conflict of power and domination in contemporary global capitalism and the nation-state, especially as manifested in local-level practices. Furthermore, the borderlands genre is a basis upon which to redraw our conceptual frameworks of community and culture area.
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TL;DR: In recent years, the concept of boundaries has been at the center of influential research agendas in anthropology, history, political science, social psychology, and sociology, particularly concerning the study of relational processes as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In recent years, the concept of boundaries has been at the center of influential research agendas in anthropology, history, political science, social psychology, and sociology. This article surveys some of these developments while describing the value added provided by the concept, particularly concerning the study of relational processes. It discusses literatures on (a) social and collective identity; (b) class, ethnic/racial, and gender/sex inequality; (c) professions, knowledge, and science; and (d) communities, national identities, and spatial boundaries. It points to similar processes at work across a range of institutions and social locations. It also suggests paths for further developments, focusing on the relationship between social and symbolic boundaries, cultural mechanisms for the production of boundaries, difference and hybridity, and cultural membership and group classifications.
3,190 citations
Cites background from "The Mexican-Us Border: The Making o..."
...…have been the object of a number of special issues in scholarly journals, edited volumes, and conferences (e.g., for a list in anthropology, see Alvarez 1995; for sociology, see the activities of the Symbolic Boundaries Network of the American Sociological Association at…...
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...…as a cultural interface between these societies that has produced a range of multiplex and transnational identities such as "Chicano," "Latino," and "Hispanic," moving beyond the more monolithic categories of "Mexicans" and "Americans" (Anzaldua 1987, Kearney 1991, Alvarez 1995, Gutierrez 1999)....
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...…treat borders as interstitial zones and are largely concerned with how processes of decolonization, globalization, and transnationalization have increasingly deterritorialized, hybridized, and creolized national identities (for reviews, see Gupta & Ferguson 1992, Alvarez 1995, Kearney 1995)....
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TL;DR: The concept of boundaries has been at the center of influential research agendas in anthropology, history, political science, social psychology, and sociology as mentioned in this paper, particularly concerning the study of relational processes.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract In recent years, the concept of boundaries has been at the center of influential research agendas in anthropology, history, political science, social psychology, and sociology. This article surveys some of these developments while describing the value added provided by the concept, particularly concerning the study of relational processes. It discusses literatures on (a) social and collective identity; (b) class, ethnic/racial, and gender/sex inequality; (c) professions, knowledge, and science; and (d) communities, national identities, and spatial boundaries. It points to similar processes at work across a range of institutions and social locations. It also suggests paths for further developments, focusing on the relationship between social and symbolic boundaries, cultural mechanisms for the production of boundaries, difference and hybridity, and cultural membership and group classifications.
2,606 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the study of undocumented migration as an epistemological, methodological, and political problem, in order to then formulate it as a theoretical problem, and argue that it is necessary also to produce historically informed accounts of the sociopolitical processes of "illegalization" themselves, which can be characterized as the legal production.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract This article strives to meet two challenges. As a review, it provides a critical discussion of the scholarship concerning undocumented migration, with a special emphasis on ethnographically informed works that foreground significant aspects of the everyday life of undocumented migrants. But another key concern here is to formulate more precisely the theoretical status of migrant “illegality” and deportability in order that further research related to undocumented migration may be conceptualized more rigorously. This review considers the study of migrant “illegality” as an epistemological, methodological, and political problem, in order to then formulate it as a theoretical problem. The article argues that it is insufficient to examine the “illegality” of undocumented migration only in terms of its consequences and that it is necessary also to produce historically informed accounts of the sociopolitical processes of “illegalization” themselves, which can be characterized as the legal production ...
2,177 citations
Cites background from "The Mexican-Us Border: The Making o..."
...Other reviews in this series that have addressed some of the broader themes that frame the specific concern of this essay include Alonso (1994), Alvarez (1995), Kearney (1986, 1995), and Ortiz (this volume)....
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TL;DR: In the tradition of political geography, boundary analysis has focused on the international scale, since international boundaries provide perhaps the... as discussed by the authors, and state boundaries have constituted a major topic in political geography.
Abstract: State boundaries have constituted a major topic in the tradition of political geography. Boundary analysis has focused on the international scale, since international boundaries provide perhaps the...
816 citations
Cites background from "The Mexican-Us Border: The Making o..."
...Johnston, 1991; 1995), while other social science disciplines have attempted to analyse the role of space and, in some cases, territory in their understanding of personal, group, and national boundaries and identities (Gupta and Ferguson, 1992; Johnson, 1994; Alvarez, 1995; Oommen, 1995; Zalewski and Enloe, 1995)....
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TL;DR: The study of borders has undergone a renaissance during the past decade, reflected in an impressive list of conferences, workshops and scholarly publications as mentioned in this paper. But this meeting of disciplines has not yet succeeded in creating a common language or glossary of terms which is relevant to all scholars of borders.
Abstract: The study of borders has undergone a renaissance during the past decade. This is reflected in an impressive list of conferences, workshops and scholarly publications. This renaissance has been partly due to the emergence of a counternarrative to the borderless and deterritorialized world discourse which has accompanied much of globalization theory. The study of borders has moved beyond the limited confines of the political geography discourse, crossing its own disciplinary boundaries, to include sociologists, political scientists, historians, international lawyers and scholars of international relations. But this meeting of disciplines has not yet been successful in creating a common language or glossary of terms which is relevant to all scholars of borders. Central to the contemporary study of borders are notions such as 'borders are institutions', the process of 'bordering' as a dynamic in its own right, and the border terminologies which focus on the binary distinctions between the 'us' and 'them', the 'included' and the 'excluded'. Borders should be studied not only from a top-down perspective, but also from the bottom up, with a focus on the individual border narratives and experiences, reflecting the ways in which borders impact upon the daily life practices of people living in and around the borderland and transboundary transition zones. In positing an agenda for the next generation of border-related research, borders should be seen for their potential to constitute bridges and points of contact, as much as they have traditionally constituted barriers to movement and communication.
715 citations
Cites background from "The Mexican-Us Border: The Making o..."
...Border narratives reflect the diverse experiences and meanings which borders have for the individual – they remind us that humans are located ‘on the boundary and at the end of territory’ (Alvarez, 1995; Lunden, 2004) for different people....
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...At the most micro of scales, anthropologists remind us of the personal, often invisible to the eye, borders, which determine our daily life practices to a much greater extent than do national boundaries – across which the majority of the global population do not even cross once in their lifetime (Alvarez, 1995)....
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References
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TL;DR: This assumed isomorphism of space, place, and culture results in some significant problems. as mentioned in this paper argues that differences between cultures come about not from their isolation from each other, but because of their connections with each other.
Abstract: This assumed isomorphism of space, place, and
culture results in some significant problems. First,
there is the issue of those who inhabit the border,
what Gloria Anzaldua calls the “narrow strip along
steep edges” of national boundaries. The fiction ofconclusion that a focus on people who live in the borders between dominant societies or nations (and here
borders is also a metaphor for people who identify, culturally, with more than one group) makes clear the fact
that differences between cultures come about not because of their isolation from each other, but because
of their connections with each other. Such a conclusion also suggests that along with difference comes the
hierarchies of power. Culture is not only a concept that expresses difference between peoples, but also a
concept that masks the uneven power relations between peoples, and these uneven power relations can
only exist through connection, rather than isolation.
2,870 citations
2,110 citations
1,629 citations
Book•
01 Jun 1979
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of migration on the place of origin and the dilemmas of current U.S. immigration policy are discussed. But the authors focus on the long-distance migration in the United States.
Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. The jobs 3. The migrants 4. Particular characteristics of the migrant labour market 5. The impact of migration on the place of origin 6. The historical evolution of long-distance migration in the United States 7. The dilemmas of current U.S. immigration policy.
1,629 citations
TL;DR: The distinction between indigenes (interne a la societe) and non-indigenes as discussed by the authors is made between anthropologues and expanderes (externe a l'aide, des autochtones etaient davantage estimees car refletant une soit-disant meilleure realite).
Abstract: L'A. s'eleve contre la distinction faite entre les anthropologues « indigenes » (interne a la societe) et « non indigenes » (externe a la societe). Si a l'epoque du colonialisme, les etudes faites par, ou a l'aide, des autochtones etaient davantage estimees car refletant une soit-disant meilleure realite, une approche hybride, ou narration et analyse rigoureuse sont melees, aurait tout autant de valeur.
1,080 citations