Are We Not Foreigners Here? Indigenous Nationalism in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

Abstract

Of all the issues currently making headlines, perhaps the most divisive is that of migration across the U.S.-Mexico border. In Are We Not Foreigners Here? Jeffrey M. Schulze addresses this issue, but with an intriguing perspective. By using case studies of the borderland Yaqui, Kickapoo, and Tohono O'odham tribes, Schulze details how the tribes have historically fought against nation-state interference, employing strategies that draw on these native peoples' transnational orientation not only to survive and thrive in both countries but also to maintain their own nations in the process. Schulze has masterfully woven strands of exhaustive research into a cohesive and fascinating narrative about the experiences of Native Americans who live along the borderlands. The case studies are varied: Yaqui migration from Mexico, Kickapoo migration from the United States, and the Tohono O'odham, whose homelands are cleaved by the border. While the Yaqui and Kickapoo are natural subjects for the author's study, the O'odham seem like an outlier. The Yaqui and Kickapoo came to the border, while the border came to the Tohono O'odham.