History 4120    Spring 2004

Week 13 Borderlands

readings: The West chapters 3 and 15

also read one of the following articles from the Atlantic Monthly: "The Border" by William Langewiesche, 1992:

The management of our relations with Mexico now looms as one of the most pressing foreign-policy challenges facing the United States. The problems confronting the two countries are great, and nowhere are they as starkly apparent as they are along the U.S.-Mexican border, a region that is by turns desolate and congested, dirt poor and thriving, lawless and a police state. Our correspondent has filed two reports: The first focuses on immigration, drugs, and law enforcement. The second focuses on economic and environmental issues. http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/92may/border.htm

"Travels into America's Future, Mexico and the Southwest" by Robert D. Kaplan:

A correspondent who has long experience reporting from dimly understood regions of the world reports from his dimly understood native land, and his excursions expose the borderless forces that are pushing America into its next life. Herewith a portion of his travelogue, focusing on the Southwest. http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98jul/future.htm

Academic Journal topic: After reading the primary documents, one of the Atlantic articles, and the 2 articles from the Tucson Times, why do you think that "borderlands" is a more apt and helpful characterization of the West as a region than "frontier"?

Also consider the information presented in the following maps:

(Source: http://www.censusscope.org/index.html)

And read at least 2 of the following:

National Census Stories reported in the Tucson Times

'Most accurate' census overcounts whites, Asians

Indian count doubles; new census rule is one reason

56M Americans foreign-born or have parents who were

Suburbs no longer dominated by families

Most multiracial Americans in West, Census 2000 finds
Hispanics are biggest 17-and-under minority group in U.S.

Great Plains communities see continued exodus of young

'Traditional' 2-parent family increasingly Asian, Hispanic

U.S. uneasy with population growth, poll finds

Anglo population growing, but slowly

Hispanic population booms in Utah

Hispanics, Asians gain in Census

Hispanics' population surges, ties blacks

2 largest minorities not always easy mix

Census: Latinos narrowing high school education gap widespread

The Borderlands Encyclopedia: http://www.utep.edu/border/

The North American Institute: http://www.northamericaninstitute.org/