The Legend of Lola Casanova

Abstract

This article contrasts two stories of nineteenth-century interracial romance, the Mexican borderlands legend of Lola Casanova and the U.S. borderlands novel Ramona. It argues that the Casanova legend suggests Mexican attitudes toward interracial marriage that differ significantly from those understood in recent readings of Ramona by U.S.- based scholars. This disparity draws attention to a blind spot in U.S.-based border studies: its tendency toward an exclusive focus on the U.S. Southwest that utterly disregards a Mexican borderlands perspective. I argue that border studies scholars need to engage more readily in cross-border dialogue.