Border Dilemmas: Racial and National Uncertainties in New Mexico, 1848-1912

by Anthony P. Mora

The U.S.-Mexican War officially ended in 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which called for Mexico to surrender more than one-third of its land. The treaty offered Mexicans living in the conquered territory a choice between staying there or returning to Mexico by moving south of the newly drawn borderline. In this fascinating history, Anthony Mora analyzes contrasting responses to the treaty’s provisions. The town of Las Cruces was built north of the border by Mexicans who decided to take their chances in the United States. La Mesilla was established just south of the border by men and women who did not want to live in a country that had waged war against the Mexican republic; nevertheless, it was incorporated into the United States in 1854, when the border was redrawn once again. Mora traces the trajectory of each town from its founding until New Mexico became a U.S. state in 1912. La Mesilla thrived initially, but then fell into decay and was surpassed by Las Cruces as a pro-U.S. regional discourse developed. Border Dilemmas explains how two towns, less than five miles apart, were deeply divided by conflicting ideas about the relations between race and nation, and how these ideas continue to inform discussion about what it means to “be Mexican” in the United States.

Genres: History

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

*read for class
Honestly, maybe even closer to a 2.5... I definitely did not enjoy this one as much as I had hoped I would.

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was phenomenal, and I enjoyed it far more than I thought it would. The author deconstructs the categories of race and nationality in New Mexico, and actually explores how these evolved in both time and by perspective. The author makes a point of not collapsing this into Anglos vs. Mexicans - the issue is explored from the perspectives of Native Americans, Mexicans in Mexico, multiple competing Mexican American perspectives, Euro-Americans, and visiting Europeans. They even explored areas that I thought were really clever - for example, how did bilingual writers express race differently in Spanish vs. English, how did gender and class affect racial and national identities, and how did the Native Americans of the Southwest get excluded from the category of Mexican. If you are at all interested in race in New Mexico or the Southwest, this is the book for you!

[Empanadani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers the history of New Mexico during the territorial period specifically that of Las Cruces and Mesilla with really thoughtful analysis of race and nation. It really highlights the tensions between Euro-Americans and Mexicans/Mexican-American, however, there is only brief mentions of Native Americans in the book. What this book does incredibly well is showing us the perspectives of the people that lived during that period and how complex their reasonings are surrounding current events and racial issues. I really appreciated his exploration of "interior frontier" and the evolution of identity in New Mexico.