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Ethnography at the Border Pablo Vila, editor |
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$70.50 Cloth |
An illuminating account of life at the U.S.-Mexico border. For cultural theorists, "the border" has proven a fluid and hybrid space profitably explored for new ideas about identity, gender, and ethnicity. But for those who occupy this region, the border is not merely a metaphor, but a lived experience, yielding immediate, often pressing ambiguities, problems, and perils. Focusing on a particular area of the U.S.-Mexico border, Ciudad Juarez-El Paso, Ethnography at the Border brings out the complexity of the border experience through the voices of the diverse people who inhabit the region. In a series of ethnographic essays that investigate specific aspects of border existence, the contributors provide rich and detailed insights into such topics as life in illegal subdivisions, called colonias, in Texas; the experience of actually crossing the bridge between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez; the impact of Operation Blockade on illegal crossings; the controversy surrounding the El Paso Border Patrol's proposal for a border wall in Sunland Park; the paradoxes of making "American products" using Mexican workers; and the relevance of grassroots efforts, environmental problems, and the multiple meanings of "Mexican." The final chapter offers a critique of the all too metaphorical border often depicted by cultural studies. Painstakingly conveying how the border looks and feels to those on both sides, Ethnography at the Border transmutes statistics on migration, labor markets, and economic trends-as well as conceptualizations of cross-cultural identities—into the experience, the observations, and the troubling lessons of border life. “Complex and nuanced. Presents a more contradictory picture of the US-Mexico border region than one typically finds. The result is a rich collection of chapters that give real flavor to everyday life in the border region while offering important insights on social theory. Helpfully brings to light the complexities and contradictions of identities in the borderlands.” —Environment and Planning D: Society and Space “Pablo Vila brings together an exemplary set of new scholars whose work is bound to expand not only our knowledge, but also our methods, in examining and interpreting border life and social process. Ethnography too seems to take on new meanings here, as Vila’s own valuable work is derived not from social context but from narratives produced in focus groups. This book is a thought provoking and worthy addition to scholarship and exemplifies a new genre in border literature.” —Western Historical Quarterly Contributors: Eduardo Barrera, Jessica Chapin, Tim J. Dunn, Sarah Hill, Victor M. Ortiz, John A. Peterson, Leslie Salzinger, David Spener, María Socorro Tabuenca Córdoba, Melissa W. Wright. Pablo Vila is associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. 320 pages | 5 7/8 x 9 | 2003 |
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$25.50 Paper