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Teaching borderlands history to college undergraduates is no easy task. For starters, college students are used to history classes that are usually organized topically or geographically – the British Empire, the American Revolutionary Era, or, and in my humble opinion perhaps best of all, TEXAS history.

But in, all seriousness, borderlands history is different. There’s definitely a geographical element, but the field is also conceptual. But before we discuss strategies related to teaching the field to students, I think it’s equally important to discuss how borderlands historians can frame undergraduate classes. As I see it, there are many different (and equally valid) ways to do it. Here’s mine. Continue reading →

First post in the Violating “The Border” series, which seeks to challenge and complicate our assumptions about U.S. borders and borderlands

To start off, let me introduce my old hometown stomping-grounds: Whatcom County, Washington. Continue reading →

I am wary of historical interpretations that wrap things up into too neat of a package.  The modern world is not simple and I am unconvinced by scholarship that tries to present historical events as simple.  Like the present, history is messy.  And – that’s why I love it.

Thus, I am always keeping my eye open for historical events, persons and case studies or contemporary happenings and news items that complicate overly-simplified narratives.  I like finding things that go against the grain and force scholars to pause and reconsider their assumptions about a topic.  My current book project, for instance, takes the familiar narrative of indigenous peoples crossing borders out of the United States and into Mexico and Canada, turns it around and compares two groups of Native peoples who crossed in the opposite direction – into the United States.  Engaging in these kinds of counterintuitive projects may not change our broader conclusions, but they will be better informed by possible counter-narratives and complicating factors. Continue reading →

See the image below for more information:  Continue reading →

Growing up in El Paso over the years has provided this writer the opportunity to observe the significance and impact telenovelas (Spanish-speaking soap operas) have on an audience. I remember my grandmother, glued to the TV from six to nine at night, watching her telenovelas. These soap operas played every day Monday through Friday. She became engrossed in the trivial and melodramatic storylines. When I would misbehave, she would scold me saying, “Look at this man [on the TV] – if you misbehave now, you will grow up and be like him – cheating in life.” At the time, I had no idea was she was talking about. Today, I realize that my grandmother and her friends, and their friends’ friends all based reality and attitudes of people off of the characters and situations in these soap operas. Did my grandmother actually believe that the characters in these soaps were actually real? I decided to research various soap operas/telenovelas, finding out if they had the same impact on other people like they had on my grandmother. Continue reading →

Borderlands History is pleased to host this guest post by Brandon Morgan, based on his dissertation research and a distillation of some of the themes he discussed in his October 11, 2012 lecture at the Center for Latin American and Border Studies at NMSU. Brandon is currently a Full-Time History Instructor at Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque. He is also a PhD student in Modern Latin American and American Western History at the University of New Mexico. His dissertation “Columbus, New Mexico, and Palomas, Chihuahua: Transnational Landscapes of Violence, 1888-1930,” considers Mexican revolutionary movements in Palomas and Columbus (including Francisco “Pancho” Villa’s 1916 raid) as well as capitalist redefinition of land tenure and community labor in the region. He argues that these various forms of violence were constructive as well as destructive, serving to forge the racial and social relations of the modern border region. Continue reading →

Dr. Irene I. Blea, author and former chair of the Mexican American Studies department at California State University–Los Angeles was interviewed about her writing and the next volume in her novel trilogy which began with Suzanna. Here’s an excerpt. Catch the rest here. Continue reading →

I got a kick out of an excerpt from a letter written by Hugh Nibley (1910-2005), a Mormon educational figure who taught at Brigham Young University for several decades (and a fairly prominent social critic in U. S. Mormon circles). In the letter, Nibley describes passing through Yellowstone National Park and into Canada after having left his wallet and identification at home in Utah. According to his account, Nibley passed because ubiquitous Mormon gatekeepers recognized him, and this was ID enough. In particular, I thought Nibley’s reference to family members as “notorious border-jumpers” interesting–perhaps a reference to family members involved in polygamy who left the United States in the late 19th century to settle in Canada to escape pursuing U. S. marshals. Continue reading →