Mexico's Northern Research Articles

Sketches of identities from the Mexico–US border (or the other way around)

For someone interested in studying the cultures and literatures of Mexico's northern border or those of the US Southwest, it is important to take into account that when trying to investigate the subjects or objects of study – human, textual, or visual – one cannot put aside the ever-present tension between national and regional discourses, nor overlook symbolic representations of those discourses. Consequently, this article proposes to sketch and reflect about some identities of Mexico's northern border that have been articulated from different perspectives and inscribed in literary texts and national and international cinemas. It will also reflect on cultural production from and about Ciudad Juárez at the turn of the 21st century and how that cultural production dialogues with different symbolic representations.

<em>Hernandez v. Texas</em>: Legacies of Justice and Injustice

<em>Hernandez v. Texas</em>: Legacies of Justice and Injustice

Hernandez v. Texas: Legacies of Justice and Injustice

Hernandez v. Texas: Legacies of Justice and Injustice

Localized Effects of Globalization: The Case of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico

This paper explores how the rise of global industrialization has altered the internal complexion of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, the largest and fastest growing of Mexico's northern border cities. First, we trace the political-economic history of Ciudad Juárez and other northern Mexican border cities in order to understand the context of rapid industrialization. Second, we document the dimensions of industrialization by tracing historic trends in population growth, industrial employment, and land-use change. Third, a deprivation index is developed to evaluate the effects of industrialization on quality-of-life at the neighborhood scale in Ciudad Juárez. Deprivation indices are calculated for 266 AGEBs (Mexican geostatistical districts) for the years 1990 and 1995, and changes in levels of deprivation are monitored over time. The analyses show that Ciudad Juárez has experienced unprecedented growth that altered the form, function, and social complexion of the city.

Recent developments in urban marginality along Mexico's northern border

This paper analyzes recent developments in urban marginality along Mexico's northern border. The northern border in the last two decades has undergone a significant economic transformation as well as an explosive population growth. The paper emphasizes that in spite of impressive economic indicators border cities in Mexico urban marginality continue; that is, economic gains have not trickled down as it would be expected. Urban marginality is defined here based on access to basic public services such as water, sewer and electricity. A discussion of market failures and government failures is presented to evaluate to what extent or degree marginality can be attributed to one or the other. The main finding of this paper is that although there has been some quantitative improvement in delivery of services, access and distribution have been uneven; therefore, marginality among lower-income groups continues. The key conclusion in the paper points towards the need of strengthening and developing planning institutions that would give local governments the tools to manage urban growth such as asserting their eminent domain power to improve land markets and accessibility to poor people to formal housing; fiscal powers as well as professionalizing city managers.

Ramona and Postnationalist American Studies: On 'Our America' and the Mexican Borderlands

The recent rediscovery of Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona (1884) by scholars of US-Mexico border studies has provided interesting insights into intercultural relations in the late nineteenth-century U.S. Southwest. However, Jackson's idealization of race relations in mixed-race Mexico, echoed by none other than Jos� Marti in his 1887 Spanish translation of the novel, reflects what has lately become a commonplace in contemporary border studies: a blindness to Mexico's northern borderlands. In the late nineteenth century, the northern Mexican borderlands were, in fact, the scene of racial conflicts involving local indigenous groups, which were as violent as those on the US side of the border. In the spirit of the "new American studies," this paper argues for an expansion of border studies beyond the context of the Chicano Southwest into the "other borderlands" of northern Mexico, and for a move toward truly bilingual and postnationalist American studies scholarship that positions the United States more meaningfully within the context of the Americas.

Decentralization and Environmental Protection on Mexico's Northern and Southern Boundaries

This article examines and compares decentralization initiatives for environmental protection along Mexico's northern and southern borders. It suggests that in the north, environmental protection policy concerns tend to be human centered and urban oriented whereas in the south, the government's environmental protection effort is directed at managing natural resources and biodiversity. Furthermore, in the north, the international border functions as a catalyst, creating an external push for binational cooperation with environmental protection. In the south, the international borders are associated with social conflicts that complicate binational efforts to advance cooperation for environmental protection. These stark differences point to the need for Mexico to tailor environmental decentralization policies to the realities of particular regions and reduce urban bias.

Income distribution in Mexico's Northern border states

A high degree of income inequality has been a persistent and troubling feature of the Mexican economy, but the degree of inequality is far from uniform in different regions of Mexico. Given the growth of the maquiladora industry and proximity to the United States, it is reasonable to anticipate that Mexico's northern border states exhibit a different pattern of inequality than other regions in Mexico. Using data from the 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000 surveys of income and expenditures (Encuesta Nacional de Ingresos y Gastos de los Hogares) conducted by INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática), this paper addresses two fundamental questions. First, is the pattern of income distribution in Mexico's northern border states different from that found in other regions of Mexico? Second, has the pattern of income distribution in the border states been changing or has it been relatively stable during the 1992-2000 time period?

Aplomado Falcons and Grazing: Invoking History to Plan Restoration

The federally endangered northern aplomado falcon (Falco femoralis septentrionalis) disappeared as a breeder from its historic nesting range in the southwestern United States in the early to middle 1900s. Since 1995, a small breeding population has been restored to former range in South Texas grasslands, and interest has escalated in restoring the bird to northern Chihuahuan Desert grasslands in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. In these latter areas, intensive livestock grazing and associated shrub (brush) encroachment have been theorized to have contributed importantly to the bird's demise, and thus grazing management has been identified as an important restoration issue. A review of the bird's abundance in the context of the grazing history of these areas suggests it was common when grazing, both by livestock and black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus), was intense and widespread (1880s-1920s) in the bird's habitat. It declined in abundance and disappeared coincident with declines in livestock abundance and the extirpation of prairie dogs (1930s-1940s). Most locations where observers historically encountered the bird had little brush at the time of its demise. In the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands of Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas where the bird occurred historically, the avian prey base is presently an order of magnitude or more lower than that in higher-rainfall habitats of the bird in eastern Mexico and South Texas. The avian prey base is similarly depauperate where 2 small populations of aplomado falcon exist in Mexico's northern Chihuahuan Desert, and the bird's reproductive success there is lower than that in eastern Mexico. The historic extirpation of prairie dogs caused a reduction in the prey biomass available to diurnally feeding raptors such as the aplomado falcon. Efforts to restore the falcon to Chihuahuan Desert grasslands in the United States ideally should include monitoring the responses of released birds to levels of grazing, to shrub abundance, to prey abundance, and to black-tailed prairie dog colonies should any exist in release areas.

Neglected Citizens and Willing Traders: The Villas del Norte (Tamaulipas) in Mexico's Northern Borderlands, 1749–1846

The political identity of residents of the villas del norte (northern villas) underwent a transformation as a result of Mexican Independence. The shift from Spanish subjects to Mexican citizens was accompanied by a corresponding change from racial categories to civic classifications. Despite the egalitarian tone of Mexico's new constitution (1824), economic class remained the basis for the new civic categories and the local elite continued to hold political office. The Mexican government promoted nationalism in the villas del norte through patriotic celebrations, military service, and the discourse of citizenship. Nevertheless, the political schisms between residents of these villas and the national state increased due to trade restrictions, the national government's political neglect, and social isolation. Ultimately, the vecinos ignored trade prohibitions and developed trade links with the United States.La independencia de México transformó la identidad política de los vecinos de las villas del norte. El cambio de sujetos españoles a ciudadanos mexicanos fue acompañado por una conversión de categorías raciales en clasificaciones cívicas. A pesar de las tendencias igualitarias de la Constitución Mexicana (1824), las categorías cívicas continuarían basadas en la clase económica, así que la élite local logró mantener el dominio sobre los puestos políticos. El gobierno mexicano promovió el nacionalismo en las villas del norte a través de las celebraciones patrióticas, el servicio militar y un discurso que el estado desarrolló respeto a la ciudadanía. Sin embargo, la distancia política entre los residentes de estas villas y el estado nacional se aumentó, debido a las restricciones al comercio, la indiferencia política por parte del gobierno nacional y el aislamiento social. En fin, los vecinos desobedecieron las prohibiciones comerciales y desarrollaron vínculos con los Estados Unidos.

Energy and Environmental Politics in Post‐Corporatist Mexico

No government that is serious about environmental protection will imitate the Mexican model. The undrinkable waters and defiled deserts of Mexico's northern border towns and the poisoned air of its capital city are infamous. But there are noticeable changes in Mexican politicians’ and lawmakers’ attitudes toward the country's environmental ills, in no small part because of changing public attitudes toward these problems. As Mexico's political system becomes more open and democratic, policy elites are increasingly attentive to environmental problems, as ordinary citizens, and especially urbanites, vent their frustration at the ballot box. Perhaps ironically, Mexico's hydrocarbon industries are potential leaders in the nascent environmental reform process. Inducements for better environmental behavior by the oil and natural gas industries are new, municipal and federal environmental regulations, stepped‐up enforcement, and local and cross‐border markets for Mexico's gas.

Industrialization and land use change in Mexican border cities: The case of Ciudad Juárez, México

The maquiladora (maquila) economy has brought enormous change to Mexico's northern border region during the last few decades. Scholars have studied many aspects of the region's maquila economy, including bi‐national trade, a range of environmental issues, and social and cultural impacts arising from rapid industrialization. Few, however, have examined the relationship between industrialization and the development of urban land. We respond to this deficiency by investigating land use change in Ciudad Juárez, México, during the 1988-1993 period. Two objectives guide the research. First, we document the extent to which the maquila economy has fostered rapid population growth and employment change in Ciudad Juárez and other Mexican border cities. Second, a simple simulation procedure is used to show how growth of the maquila economy has distorted residential and commercial land development in the city. The results indicate that during the 1988-1993 period residential land in the city was “overdeveloped” while commercial land was “underdeveloped.” The results offer important clues for understanding the impacts of rapid industrialization, and for guiding urban planning efforts in Mexican border cities.

Refusing the favor: the Spanish-Mexican women of Santa Fe, 1820-1880

Refusing the Favor unveils a method for understanding how Mexico's northern land, New Mexico, came under the authority of the United States and what role women played in the political game of takeover. By not losing sight of the Spanish-Mexican women of Santa Fe, the most populated town west of the Mississippi until the California Gold Rush, it places gender squarely in the middle of the dialogue about conquest.

Migrant women crossing borders: The role of gender and religion in internal and external Mexican migration

This article examines the migration experience of women crossing two different borders, international‐national and rural‐urban. Two ethnographic examples are provided to document women's transformations through migration. The first case deals with Mexican women crossing Mexico's northern border into Texas. The second case focuses on Maya women crossing the rural border of a Maya community to urban Cancún. The core of the study is the analysis of the parallelisms between these two cases, mainly expressed in the connections between religious conversion and socioeconomic transformations resulting from these women's migration experiences. The ethnographic method allows the comparison of the two cases of female migration and facilitates the understanding of the ideological transformation, expressed through the religious conversion, interwoven with changes in their migrant socioeconomic dynamics.

DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN MEXICO:

ABSTRACTThis article presents a cross‐sectional analysis of the relationship between democracy and development in thirty‐two Mexican provinces (thirty‐one states plus the Federal District). The analysis suggests that socioeconomic modernization – whether measured by income, indices of material well‐being, education, industrialization, urbanization, or some combination – exerts a powerful, positive influence on democratization across states. However, the political effects of modernization vary across regions of Mexico. Areas ‐whose economies have traditionally been based on commerce and industry (including Mexico's northern belt) appear to follow a familiar pattern, democratizing as they develop economically. By contrast, development has less politically powerful consequences on states with a long history oflabor‐ suppressive agriculture and mineral extraction (including most of Mexico's south). In short, different regions of Mexico appear to be following separate political trajectories.

Nongovernmental organizations in Mexico's Northern Border

This article documents and analyzes the activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) along the western part of Mexico's northern border. The research is based on fieldwork with 26 Mexican civic, not‐for‐profit organizations that promote social change and community development in the areas of environmental protection, poverty alleviation, and human, indigenous, and women's rights in Tijuana, Mexicali, Agua Prieta, Nogales, and Ciudad Juárez. Border NGOs are classified with respect to their activities and working style, focusing particularly on their relationship to their grassroots constituencies. The strongest NGOs are environmental groups, which in general work in policy‐oriented research and lobbying, and economic development NGOs, which mostly promote small business development. NGOs promoting a variety of civil rights generally operate with few resources and relatively little competency to carry out long‐term capacity building among their constituencies. The article shows that in contrast to NGOs in Mexico's interior, which have developed as allies of poor people's social movements, NGOs along the northern border do not have strong links with grassroots organizations of the urban or rural poor, thus limiting their effectiveness in promoting democratization and poverty alleviation. The author explores the factors contributing to the unique characteristics of border NGOs, including border culture and politics, ties to U.S. NGOs, and the recent creation of many border NGOs.

Thread of Blood: Colonialism, Revolution, and Gender on Mexico's Northern Frontier.

Thread of Blood: Colonialism, Revolution, and Gender on Mexico's Northern Frontier.

Review: Thread of Blood: Colonialism, Revolution, and Gender on Mexico's Northern Frontier, by Ana María Alonso

Review: <i>Thread of Blood: Colonialism, Revolution, and Gender on Mexico's Northern Frontier</i>, by Ana María Alonso

Thread of Blood: Colonialism, Revolution, and Gender on Mexico's Northern Frontier.

Thread of Blood: Colonialism, Revolution, and Gender on Mexico's Northern Frontier.

Thread of Blood: Colonialism, Revolution, and Gender on Mexico's Northern Frontier.

Thread of Blood: Colonialism, Revolution, and Gender on Mexico's Northern Frontier.