WEST UNIVERSITY OF TIMIȘOARA

Faculty of Letters, History And Theology

Department of Applied Modern Languages

BACHELOR THESIS

Coordinating Teacher: Student:

Lect. univ.Chevereșan Cristina Loredana Gheorghe

-2014-

WEST UNIVERSITY OF TIMIȘOARA

Faculty of Letters, History And Theology

Department of Applied Modern Languages

MIXED HERITAGE: BORDER STATES,

BODER CUTURE IN THE U.S.A.

Coordinating Teacher: Student:

Lect. Univ. Chevereșan Cristina Loredana Gheorghe

-2014-

Table of Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1

I. The Border in History ........................................................................... 3

1. Defining the Border .............................................................................. 3

2. The creation of the U.S.-Mexican Border ............................................. 5

II. Border Culture ..................................................................................... 14

1. Cultural Practices and Beliefs ............................................................. 14

1.1 Health care practices ..................................................................... 14

1.2 Cultural Practices .......................................................................... 17

2. Education and Languages ................................................................... 22

III. Quality of Life in the Border Regions ................................................. 27

1. Living standards ................................................................................. 27

2. Economy ............................................................................................. 30

3. Housing .............................................................................................. 34

4. Border Territories ............................................................................... 36

Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 43

Bibliography ................................................................................................... 45

1

Introduction

One could say that the terms such as border, boundary or frontier represent a line that

separates two countries, two different nationalities. In this BA paper I will try to demonstrate

that these terms represent something more than a line between two countries. The research I

decided to do for my BA paper is a case study of border culture and mixed heritage in the

United States. The title of my BA paper is ―Mixed Heritage: Border States, Border Culture in

the U.S.A.‖. The focus is on culture and living standards on the United States – Mexico

Border. My research proposal is a descriptive one, because it seeks to elicit the characteristics

of American-Mexican culture. This study required a primary understanding of living

standards on border regions. I have been approaching my BA paper especially from a cultural

perspective, trying to give examples of cultural practices and to write about education,

economy and mixed heritage.

I chose this topic for one main reason: I want to know how people from other border

regions in the world live. I come from Vršac, Serbia, which is a town located near the

Romanian border crossing. In my opinion, life in border regions is not easy. There are many

ethnic groups who share the same fate, not only in the Serbian-Romanian border region, but

in other border regions of the world as well, in my case, the U.S. - Mexico Border. I am very

interested in finding out many details about cultural practices, cultural beliefs and living

standards in one of the most unique bi-national regions in the world. By means of this topic, I

want to show that life in this region is very interesting, despite the multitude of historical

events (not all of them pleasant). By writing my BA paper, I have found out many interesting

things in Mexican-American culture, such as folk healing practices, quinceañeras, mariachis

and piñatas for children’s birthday.

My research includes three chapters. I started with the theoretical chapter, in which I

am trying to define the words related to border and give some information about the creation

of the U.S. – Mexico Border and the main historical events that happened in this area. I called

the first chapter The Border in History, and it includes two parts: Defining the Border and

The Creation of the U.S.-Mexican Border. In the first part, I gave a definition of the three

terms that are my paper’s keywords: border, boundary and frontier. Besides these terms, I

gave the definition of other terms such as nation or nationalism, state, and heritage. The

second part of this chapter consists in presenting the historical events that led to the creation

of the U.S. – Mexico border created. I started with the discovery of America by Christopher

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Columbus in 1492. Then, I continued with the history of border creation. The border was

officially created in 19th century, by the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty (1848) and the Gadsden

Purchase (1853). I finished this chapter with information about the important events that

happened in this region in the last decades of 20th century.

The second chapter is called Border Culture and it addresses the main subject of my

BA paper, which is culture in the U.S. – Mexico Border regions. In this chapter I tried to look

at various examples of cultural practices, cultural beliefs and write about education. I also

described health care practices, cultural practices which are related to the family and, in the

end of the chapter, I define the education on the U.S. – Mexico Border regions. Cultural

practices and beliefs are very important for a mixed heritage from this part of the country.

This chapter consists of two parts: Cultural Practices and Education and Languages.

Languages are also a most important factor in a country, especially in border regions, where

people are able to speak more than one language, in this case English and/ or Spanish.

The third chapter is concerned with quality of life in the border regions and the future

of the U.S. – Mexico Border. In the first part of the last chapter, I try to talk about economy,

housing and living standards on the border. In the second part, I discuss the future of the U.S.

– Mexico Border. In the end, I try to identify the differences between the U.S. – Mexico and

the Serbian – Romanian border. All Border States have their specific cultural practices, their

specific languages and their interesting history. The data that I used for this analysis are

questionnaires, ethnographic observations and books. My purpose in this paper is to

demonstrate that American culture and civilization are more interesting in the Border States.

My BA paper is recommended to all those who find life on the border fascinating.

3

I. The Border in History

1. Defining the Border

My purpose in the first chapter is to describe the term border and the critical

vocabulary related to this term. I will also focus on history and the creation of the U.S. –

Mexico Border. There are many definitions that circumscribe the terms border, boundary and

frontier. The general definition given to the term border is an imaginary line which separates

two countries. But there are three terms which cannot be distinguished quite so easily by

many geographers. Theoretically, the boundary is defined as a strict line that separates two

territories; the frontier is defined as a zone and the border as ―an area of interaction and

gradual division between two separate political entities‖ (Nevins, 2002: 18).

The border can be classified according to several features:

• A natural border is constituted by oceans, rivers, lakes, forests, mountains;

• A geometrical border includes lines such as latitude or longitude;

• A maritime border represents the division of areas in the ocean or sea;

The last feature by which the borders can be classified includes economy, politics,

and culture.

Nevertheless, when I think about border, boundary or frontier, I also refer to nation,

mixed heritage, culture and standards of living.

To be more specific, I have chosen to discuss the United States – Mexico Border.

From a geographical point of view, the U.S. – Mexico border covers an area of nearly 2000

miles and it is the region where approximately 350 million people cross legally every year. In

this border area live 13 million people, out of two sovereign nations, American and Spanish.

The largest minority group is represented by the U.S. Hispanic population, but there are also

approximately 25 Native American Nations. Besides the nation, the U.S. – Mexico border

includes four states in the U.S. - California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas - and six states

in Mexico - Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas; 45

United States counties and 80 Mexican Municipalities; and the 14 pairs of so called sisters

cities (San Diego-Tijuana/California-Baja California, Calexico-Mexicali/California-Baja

California, Yuma-San Luis/Arizona-Sonora, Nogales-Nogales/Arizona-Sonora, Naco-

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Naco/Arizona-Sonora, Douglas-Agua Prieta/Arizona-Sonora, Columbus-Puerto

Palomas/New Mexico-Chihuahua, El Paso-Ciudad Juárez/Texas-Chihuahua, Presidio-

Ojinaga/Texas-Chihuahua, Del Rio-Ciudad Acuña/Texas-Coahuila, Eagle Pass-Piedras

Negras/Texas-Coahuila, Laredo-Nuevo Laredo/Texas-Tamaulipas, McAllen-Reynosa/Texas-

Tamaulipas, and Brownsville-Matamoros/Texas-Tamaulipas). (PAHO, 2007: 733)

A border can be defined by analyzing terms such nation or nationalism, state, and

heritage. As already mentioned, the first chapter dealing with the definitions of some terms

which are important to describe the border region, I intend to define these terms. Thus,

according to Joseph Nevins (2002: 7)

A nation is a group of persons who claim that they consist of a single ―people‖ based upon

historical, cultural, and/or ideological (in the form of a shared set of principles) criteria and

therefore should have their own sovereign state (a nation-state) in a clearly demarcated

territory that encompasses their homeland. Nationalism is the ideology and associated

practices that justify, emanate from, and reproduce the nation. (Nevins, 2002:7)

The state refers to the territory or nations that represent a politically organized

community, under a form of government. The last term to be used is heritage and it refers to

something inherited from the past. There are many examples of cultural heritage referring to

the tradition of one nation in one country or region. In the next chapters, I will discuss the

culture and heritage of U.S. – Mexico Border in more depth. To conclude this first part and to

introduce my main topic, I think it is necessary to mention that

Communities along the United States–Mexico border have a great deal in common, including

a shared history, two deserts, rapid population growth, thriving tourism, and deepening

economic integration. We use the terms border area or border region as a linguistic shorthand;

in fact, the U.S.-Mexico border comprises many regions. (Anderson and Gerber, 2007:12)

5

2. The Creation of the U.S.-Mexican Border

In the first part of this chapter I will present relevant facts in the general history of

America, then I will proceed to discussing the creation of U.S. – Mexico Border. When I

think of the ―history of America‖, the first thing that crosses my mind is the discovery of

America by an Italian explorer, navigator and colonizer called Christopher Columbus, who

was also an admiral for Spain. In 1492, he was trying to sail towards the west in order to

discover a shorter route to Asia; more exactly he wanted to reach the Indies – the territory

that was believed to be rich in gold, pearls, dies and many others treasures. On August 1492,

he left the port of Palos de la Frontera with three ships (Niña, Pinta and the Santa Maria) and

on October he arrived to Guanahani, an island in the Bahamas that was named by Columbus

―San Salvador‖. – (Spanish colonization of the Americas, 1)

After Columbus’ discovery of the New World, the colonization started. It is estimated

that the first country which came to explore the new discovered world was Spain. The

explorers settled on today’s territory of the United States, but they also administrated other

territories in America. Those first Spanish explorers were led by Juan Ponce de Leon. After

him, the next who led the Spanish explorers in 1502 was Vasco Núñez de Balboa. These ones

explored the territory of Atrato. The Island occupied by Spanish colonists is called Hispaniola

and this represents the first New World colony. Their first settlement was established on the

south of Santo Domingo. In 1521 Hernan Cortes came to conquest Mexico. Here, and later in

Peru, he discovered gold and silver. Through 1589, the city of San Domingo was captured by

an English admiral, named Sir Francis Drake. Later, in the middle of 17th century, the

English fleet led by Oliver Cromwell had to take Santo Domingo, but the English made sail

further and they took Jamaica instead. – (Spanish colonization of the Americas, 3)

The British colonization of the Americas began in 1607. The British explorers’ first

colony was Jamestown, Virginia. The British were the most important colonizers of America.

Their idea was that the English American Empire might oppose the Spanish American one in

terms of economy, military, culture or wealth. They mostly occupied the Northern part of

America, the British Empire being characterized by three types of colonies: which are

character, proprietary and royal colonies (British colonization of the Americas). The

territories that England occupied were Jamestown - Virginia, St. George’s - Bermuda, and

New Netherland - later in 1664 called Province of New York. The others territories belonged

to the French and Spanish colonies of Acadia and Florida.

6

In 1775, the American Revolutionary War begun, the purpose of which were

representation, local laws, taxes and the establishment of the United States of America. This

new country was recognized on September 1783, by the Treaty of Paris. (Nevins, 2002:13)

I have started this part by some information about the discovery of America, one of the

greatest discoveries in the history in order to provide an accurate contextualization of my

main research topic. The creation of the U.S. – Mexico border started in 19th century, by the

Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty (1848) and the Gadsden Purchase (1853).

On September 6, 1851, the four highest-ranking members of the Joint United States and

Mexican Boundary Commission met on a high desert plain about sixty miles southeast of

Tucson. Their respective governments had sent them to survey and mark the new boundary

line between the two republics. (St. John, 2011: 12)

However, the border existed before the 19th century as well. In the Spanish colonial

period, this region was of interest to explorers and missioners. Beginning with the early

1600s, the first and the largest town, called El Paso del Norte, or simply El Paso, was built

there. The name was translated into English as the ―Passage to the North‖. Besides this town,

there were also smaller villages in the region of Texas Valley. In 1846, there began the

American-Mexican War, which lasted for two years. As a result of this War, Mexico lost

about 960.000 square miles of land (2.500.000 km2) (Nevins, 2002:15). The lost territories

were Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado, Kansas and

Oklahoma. The ―symbol of separation‖ stretches along half of the length of the border. That

symbol is a river named Rio Grande or Rio Bravo. The American-Mexican War ended with

the singing of the already mentioned Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty.

Five years later, in 1853, by the Gadsden Purchase, the creation of today’s U.S. –

Mexico Border was accomplished. The characteristic of this border was from the very

beginning, state control. The man who had set out for the border was Garcia Conde, who was

one of ―the men who had set out for the border as confident representatives of sovereignty

found themselves fending off political assaults, fearing Indian raids, and struggling to simply

stay alive‖ (St. John 2011: 13). The Native people of the land were fighting for United States’

and Mexico’s aim, which was conforming to sovereignty.

In fact, the idea of politicians to create the U.S. – Mexico border line began in the

period of thirty years between Mexican independence (1821) and the Treaty of Guadalupe

7

Hidalgo (1848). Mexico tried to maintain the extensive boundary region. . ―In the south, the

decline of the Spanish Empire created an opening for a revolutionary challenge that began

with the Grito de Dolores in 1810 and concluded with Mexican independence in 1821.‖ (St.

John, 2011:15) This revolutionary challenge resulted in the Mexican independence. In the

1830s, people from the United States and Mexico were convinced that if they controlled the

region of the U.S. – Mexico Border, it could be a risk for each of their nations. The main

potential was the development of agriculture, farming and mining along the Pacific Coast.

Why was northern Mexico so important? Here, in this region, the missionaries could

find gold, which was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California. Also the borderlands of

northern Mexico were known by having mineral deposits.

Under the Constitution of 1824, Mexico incorporated the northern half of this territory as the

states of Chihuahua, Sonora y Sinaloa, and Coahuila y Tejas, and the territories of New

Mexico, Alta California, and Baja California. Although distant and disconnected from the

national centers of population and political power, Mexicans saw these states and territories

as integral parts of the nation. (St. John, 2011:16).

However, Americans wanted to acquire the Mexican territories. Many Americans,

including Thomas Jefferson, believed that the United States should try to conquer this land. If

they owned the farms, citizens could maintain the independence for democratic republic.

After President James Polk, in 1846, ordered U.S. troops to combat the territory between

Nueces and Rio Grande, the two nations started a war. This American-Mexican War was

characterized as American conquest of Mexican regions (cf. Nevins, 2002: 15). On April 25,

1846, over sixteen U.S. soldiers were killed and wounded by Mexican force that engaged a

U.S. patrol (cf. Nevins, 2002: 15). On May 13, the United States declared war to Mexico and

five days after that, the troops of United States occupied Matamoros.

For two years the war raged on, largely in the favor of the United States, ending with the

United States occupying Mexico City and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on

February 2, 1848, through which Mexico ceded half of its territory to the United States. In

going to war, James Polk had had three objectives: first, to make Mexico recognize the Rio

Grande as Texas’ southern boundary; second (and perhaps most important), to force Mexico

to cede California and New Mexico to the United States; and third, to compel Mexico to give

up additional territory on its northern boundary. Under the treaty’s terms, the United States

8

annexed one million square miles of Mexican land, a territory equivalent in size to that of

Western Europe, and absorbed 100,000 Mexican citizens and 200,000 Native Americans

living in the annexed territory. All or part of ten states resulted from the treaty: Texas,

Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, and

California. – (Nevins, 2002:15)

In 1851, the boundary commission was reconvened in El Paso. John Russell Bartlett

replaced John B. Weller as the U.S. commissioner. Although he did not have so much

experience, Bartlett managed to do all that was needed for the commission.

The boundary survey was problematic as to where to start. The Disturnell’s map

showed that El Paso was over 34 miles south and 130 miles west and it was also showed that

Rio Grande was two degrees west. (St. John, 2011: 28) Thousands of miles of territory,

including Mexican villages in the Mesilla Valley and copper mines in Santa Rita, were at

risk. In terms of their positions, they would be transferred to the United States, but in terms of

the map, those regions would be kept in Mexico. Gracia Conde and John Russell Bartlett

―located the initial point on the Rio Grande at the latitude given by the map‖ (St. John, 2011:

28). Thus, the boundary line north of El Paso was moved, Mexico gained more land to the

north and the United States gained territory to the west. However, many American politicians

refused to acknowledge the boundary line.

Throughout the 1850s, The United States government wanted to buy territories from

Mexico. James Gadsden was the U.S. delegate from South Carolina. His interest was the

promotion of railroads, and so he traveled to Mexico. In 1853, he was authorized by the

President Franklin pierce to offer $50 million for Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Baja

California, and the northern parts of Chihuahua and Sonora. This sum of money was five

times more than the United States paid for the silver of today southern Arizona and New

Mexico.(St. John, 2011:41) In 1857, another attempt was made by President James

Buchanan, who wanted to move the boundary line to the south. He authorized the United

States minister of Mexico to offer $15 million for northern Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja

California. (St. John, 2011:42)

Like other cities in Mexico, Sonora also had a mixed population. There lived the

Indians (Yaqui, Mayo, Pima, Opata, Tohono O’odham, and Apache), the mestizo population,

and Mexican-born Spaniards or criollos that controlled the government. In this period the

population was politically separated between the supporters of Gandara and the supporters of

9

Pesqueira (St. John, 2011:43) From the U.S. point of view, the most serious challenge in the

period of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was the victory of the population, who won the war

with Mexicanos and Native Americans from Mexico. Between 1848 and 1853, in Border

States like Nuevo Leon, Coahuila or Sonora, over one thousand Mexicans lost their lives

because of the Indians’ invasions, which originated in the United States. It is estimated that in

the border area there were four thousand U.S. troops and six hundreds U.S. military force

against the Indians between 1848 and 1853. (Nevins, 2002:18)

The Indian invasion of the border lasted through the 1850s and 1860s. The most

important issue in the relations between Mexico and United States by the early 1870s was, in

fact, the situation in the border region. To give the territorial definition of the two countries

and also to allow the building of territorial control in the border region was important for the

construction of the boundary between the Mexico and United States. The U.S. officials’

efforts along the boundary with Mexico in the late of 19th century and the early 20th century

accumulated the violence and challenges to the state. During this period, the coming of

immigrants from Mexico began.

At the beginning of 20th century, in Arizona and New Mexico were found copper,

silver and zinc. Very important for Texas was that the beginning of the mining of salt, which

resulted in the furthering of the exclusion of Mexican American land owners. The Asian

workers started coming to the United States by passing through Mexico, but they were

prevented from doing so by the establishing of the first border patrol.(St. John, 2011:105)

In 1910, the first modern social revolution began. It was called the Mexican

Revolution and its purpose was to change the society and the economy of Mexico. Many

immigrants from Mexico came into the United States because they did not want to fight. The

Mexican natives crossed the border to the north because of the war and because of the

economic and social problems which appeared during the revolution. Even some

revolutionaries and federals escaped to the United States in order to plan the invasion of

Mexico. Thus, the period between 1910 and 1920 is characterized by immigration. About 890

000 legal Mexican immigrants crossed the border in United States.(St. John, 2011:128) The

Mexican Revolution created a lot of turbulence to the south; this way, it can be explained

very clearly why the Mexicans came into the United States. It is estimated that during the

battles of the revolution, the upper class of Mexico had also begun to immigrate.

10

In 1914, the General Victoriano Huerta assassinated Mexican President Francisco I.

Madero. In this way, he could protect the Mexican landowners, which were called

hacendados and the old army officers, from Madero’s reforms.

(http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/) The capitalists of America supported Huerta,

except President Woodrow Wilson. His idea was to invade Mexico and he did it in 1914,

when some American soldiers were arrested for entering Tampico, which was a prohibited

zone. Thus, a few marines were sent to Veracruz and Wilson destroyed Huerta.

(http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/). This period is one of those who saw the

greatest violence and destruction. The First World War started, during which the new

regulations of border-crossing were put in place.

The result of the Mexican Revolution was a big number of Mexican casualties. More

than 1.5 million people and ranches in the Mexico were destroyed. Crossing the border, the

Mexicans’ hope was to find and create a new life, as the immigrants from China were also

persecuted. ―According to the official records of the U.S. Commissioner General of

Immigration, 890,371 people legally entered the United States from Mexico between July

1910 and July 1920.‖ (St. John 2011: 128).

On March 15, General John J. Pershing, nicknamed ―Black Jack‖, led a few American

soldiers in Chihuahua for the pursuit of General José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, known as

Francisco Villa or ―Pancho‖ Villa. But, after eleven months Pershing was forced to come

back to the U.S. In 1917, there started a war for the United States and Mexico. On April 2,

the U.S. declared war against Germany. An armed alliance between Germany and Mexico

was suggested. This war ended with the singing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and the

beginning of Obregon’s presidency in Mexico in 1920.

Mexicans, who constituted the majority of the illegal-alien population in the 1920s,

experienced the new regime of border law enforcement and immigration regulation as a

profound assault on the integrity of their communities and as an abridgement of their

historical claims to the U.S. southwest. New legal requirements for visas and national

documents disrupted the daily traffic of workers across border bridges, just as they also

reconfigured families that spanned the international boundary. (Camacho, 2008: 29)

The Immigration Act of 1924 (cf. Nevins, 2002: 23) interrupted the cross of other

immigrants and each person had to pay a tax. For the first time, the immigrants were required

11

to obtain visas for traveling to the United States. The visas were issued at U.S. consulate from

Mexico. In 1934, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (cf. Nevins, 2002:25) showed

that a large number of Mexican citizens travel to border towns in the U.S. The INS

(Immigration and Naturalization Service) was actually a problem, because it encouraged the

unauthorized immigration. In 1951 (Nevins, 2002:27) the contract labor program, known as

Bracero Program, could manage to reduce this unauthorized immigration from Mexico.

That time, the president was Dwight D. Eisenhower and his lawyer Herbert Brownell

wanted to halt the ―illegal immigration‖ (Nevins, 2002:28). He also told that the Border

Patrol’s budget should not increase and in the INS’s budget would decrease. Thus, the

administration of the President Eisenhower announced the beginning of Operation Wetback

on June 9, 1954 (Nevins, 2002:28). This was led by General Joseph Swing, the new

commissioner of the Immigration and Nationalization Service. The Operation Wetback

represented border enforcement and it was applied to illegal aliens, Mexicans in general.

Over 1 million of illegal immigrants crossed the border in 1954 (cf.

http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/). Some of the immigrants had children born in

the United States and they were by law U.S. citizens. Besides this, the border agents had

stopped to interrogate the citizens for the identification. This fact annoyed many U.S. citizens

who were of Mexican American origin. People from United States, as well as people from

Mexico, complained of this methods and the result of this complain was the leaving of

Operation Wetback.

Regarding the Bracero Program, the religious groups and organized labor opposed it.

The Department of Labor (cf. Nevins, 2002:28) issued the regulations of bracero contracts,

which were restricted. There were no more braceros employed in agricultural sector. The

result of this was again the rise of unauthorized Mexican immigration. The Bracero Program

came to an end in 1964 (cf. Nevins, 2002: 29) and the Mexican American leaders of labor

wanted to start an organization of farmworkers. The Bracero Program from 1942, the

Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Operation Wetback from 1954 were

the most important practices in the history of the Border Patrol.

In October 1952 (cf. http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/), it was issued the

Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The purpose of this Act was to cancel the quota

system of national origins. Some border-state members voted to reduce the sum of tax given

to the Border Patrol because the increase of illegal migration. According to McWilliams

(1968:193), the Border Patrol’s 1980 budget was only $77 million.

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Instead of Bracero Program, it was created the border industry established by the

Border Industrialization Program (B.I.P.) in 1964

(http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/). Since the 20th centuries, there were no more

frontiers but an international boundary between United States and Mexico. By 1970 the U.S.

Border States had almost 34 million mixed populations, while Mexican Border States had

almost 8 million residents. (Nevins, 2002:29). In the early 1970s it begins the enforcement of

boundary and the restriction of immigration in the United States. (Nevins, 2002:50) In the

same time, Mexican American women founded the ―Mexican American Women's National

Association‖ (http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/). The purpose of this organization,

abbreviated MANA, was the improvement of education and opportunities for Mexican

American women. Nowadays, this Latin Association becomes the largest organization in the

United States.

After a few years, respectively in 1994, other practices were established in the U.S. –

Mexico Border. In the first month of 1994, it was established the North American Trade

Agreement (NAFTA), which was aimed to help the relationships between United States,

Mexico and Canada. (http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/). The NAFTA eliminated

the tariffs, but it had also affected the agricultural trade in U.S. – Mexico Border. It appeared

many problems such as the growth of population and industrial growth in border regions. The

increasing of environmental problems led to the emergence of Operation Gatekeeper in the

area of San Diego and Tijuana (Nevins, 2002:51). Actually, the Operation Gatekeeper

―demonstrates the power of the boundary and its related socio-geographical practices in

forming an almost reflexive consciousness in favor of boundary and immigration

enforcement‖ (Nevins, 2002:50). The Operation Gatekeeper was a great success for Border

Patrol and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Gatekeeper improves the

attempt to regulate migrants and it also contributes to marginalize the unauthorized

immigrants.

William Jefferson Bill Clinton is an American politicians and he was the President

during the last decade of 20th centuries. On October 1995 (Nevins, 2002:104), Bill Clinton

established the strategy of boundary enforcement. He supported U.S. Border Patrols and he

strictly limited the illegal immigration. In the same time, the Operation Gatekeeper

introduced the identification system by computer that was called IDENT (Nevins, 2002:104)

and then it was easier to identify the crossers. After Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton is the first

13

president who visited Mexico. He promised to President of Mexico – who was Ernesto

Zedillo – that he would avoid the U.S. immigration.

Operation Gatekeeper is the outgrowth of the intersection of a variety of long- and medium-

term social geographical trends emanating from the local (San Diego and Tijuana), regional

(―the border‖), national (for both the United States and Mexico), and international levels.

(Nevins, 2002:138)

In this first chapter, I have written about the most important historical events,

beginning from the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus to the last decade

of 20th century. I conclude this chapter by telling that U.S. – Mexico Border is a mixture of

Mexican American culture; considering the fact that this was once Mexican territory blend

with the entry of a large number of illegal immigrants from Mexico. In the following chapter,

I will discuss in detail the U.S. – Mexico culture, mixed heritage, economy and other

practices regarding the life in the Border Regions.

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II. Border Culture

1. Cultural Practices and Beliefs

1.1.Health care practices

The second chapter will focus on cultural practices, cultural beliefs, education and

economy. In the first part, I will look at the various examples of cultural practices from the

U.S. – Mexico Border.

All border regions have their cultural development. The U.S. – Mexico Border is one

of the most populated regions in the world. Seeing that there are many Border States – Texas,

New Mexico, Arizona and California in U.S. and Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila,

Chihuahua, Sonora and Baja California in Mexico –, one must keep in mind that those

regions have their specific cultural practices.

For the American side, as well as for Mexican side, there are many examples of

traditional health care practices. Those types of practices use medicines based on plants,

animal or mineral and various manual techniques of medicine which are applied to treat and

prevent different illnesses, but can also maintain the well-being. In the U.S. – Mexico border

regions, people often choose these traditional health care practices for many reasons. Among

those reasons are, in general, economy and culture.

In all cultures there are various beliefs and methods of health treatments. Regarding

genetics, on the U.S. – Mexico Border there are many nationalities such as Native Americans,

Spanish, Africans, Indians, Chinese and other. Many of the border residents have no health

insurance and sometimes the doctors are scarce even when people are able to pay them and

cover the health insurance. The immigrants have the smallest percentage of health coverage

and care facilities. In the Rio Grande Valley there are the highest rates of some diseases such

diabetes, cancer, tuberculosis and liver disease. In the U.S. – Mexico border regions the

―epidemiological transition‖ (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006:18) is very characteristic. This

term signifies the ―condition in which areas of developed nations begin to acquire some of

the health problems of developing countries‖ (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006:18). Thus, the

poor populations use traditional health care, which includes various types of folk medicine

15

and cultural practices. It is believed that these practices help to cure certain diseases and there

are different levels of success attributed to the intake of these natural medical treatments.

For some Mexican residents it is difficult to access medical facilities because they do

not know very well the medical services in the area and some of them have little knowledge

of English. There are situations in which the doctors refuse the patients and thereby these

situations may become an emergency. Either Hispanics or non-Hispanics go to hospital

emergency rooms as the one option where medical assistance cannot be refused. As a result,

some areas in the border regions on the Mexican side want to make facilities for the

uninsured poor population thus actively treating the onset of the disease rather than letting the

disease progress until the person or persons end up in the hospital’s emergency rooms which

is the normal practice on the U.S. side. In Texas, 40 percent of the children of immigrants

have no health insurance and 50 percent of families do not have enough money for food

(Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 28). As a result, many Hispanics and some non-Hispanics

are forced to look for health care in Mexico.

Hence, there are some people who count on various forms of folk healing. The ―folk

healing‖ (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 29) is a traditional medicine by which a folk healer

uses some culturally known plants in order to cure some diseases. Those who practice this

folk healing are called folk healers and they use home remedies and cultural beliefs to treat

various causes of illnesses. The home remedies are used to cure aches and other pains and

they consist of chamomile baths to calm the nerves, aloe vera for injuries, and other plants.

Instead of the doctors there are curanderos (or folk healers), the midwives are parteras and

instead of pharmacists there are hierberos (they sell herbs) (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006:

29). Some doctors declare that these traditional cures may be helpful, but sometimes they

have their limits. In general, the curanderos have a special magical ability of healing. They

treat patients with traditional and spiritual diseases.

Curanderismo is a system of folk medicine that includes rituals, herbal remedies, prayers, and

spiritual states of consciousness practiced within communities with long-established Native

American, Mexican, and Catholic traditions. Curanderismo is based on the belief that good

health results from a positive equilibrium with forces for good and healing ceremonies

designed to promote physical, spiritual, and mental healing. (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006:

29)

16

The curanderos also cure the susto (in English this term is ―scare‖). When someone

has anorexia, insomnia, hallucinations, faintness or other kinds of pain, then that person may

be scared. To cure this susto the person has to lie down on the floor with outstretched cross

arms and the folk healer cleans the body with leafy branches. It is believed that in the

person’s body is a spirit which can be removed by overseen herbs and recited prayers.

(Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 29)

The most important organ is the eye. Thus, there is another health practice regarding

ojo or illness caused by the eye. His folk healing involve a child’s look. Ojo is caused by

someone who takes a look at a child or an object and if its look is not followed by a touch, the

child or the object may be affected in a negative way. The child symptoms can be insomnia,

crying, fever, headache, agitation and other aches and pains. From my point of view, the ojo

illness is similar to ―evil eye‖, that means when someone casts an evil eye on someone, often

on children. (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 40)

Not all people believe in health care practices and some immigrants from the U.S. –

Mexico Border States are sometimes worried when they meet people with the same origins as

themselves who do not follow cultural practices related to their identity. Overall, the health

practices in the US – Mexico border region, tend to be an amalgam of regular health care and

the traditional cure systems. Although, the research points out that people chose the way in

which they want to be remedied, in theory, those decisions are made based on the finances

available to the family or families in question. Work is on the way in US whereby, low

income families will for the first time in the history of US, have the option of joining

socialized healthcare. It remains to be seen what the overall success of this so called

―Obamacare‖ plan will have in regions such as the US – Mexico border areas.

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1.2.Cultural Practices

Customs

Beside traditional health care practices, the U.S. – Mexico Border States include other

cultural practices associated with people who live on border area. In this chapter I will try to

identify and explain some of these important cultural practices. As we have seen with

previous examples with both economy and medicine, the border region tends to have their

own amalgam of dealing with problems and arriving at a solution. In the next context we will

discuss holidays and in the process we will analyze how and what is celebrated in this region.

One of the best known celebrations in these Border States and in the whole of the

North America is Thanksgiving. In Mexico this holiday is not as important and it is not

celebrated on the same day as in United States. On the U.S. – Mexico border, Thanksgiving

Day is seen as one of the most important family celebrations and it is celebrated annually.

People traditionally thank God for the harvest wealth of that year and it is considered a family

celebration. It consists in the process of substituting an element of native culture with one of

the immigrants’ culture. For example, people serve on Thanksgiving Day tamales instead of

turkey or, in some cases; they serve these two traditional dishes together. Generally, the

culture of the U.S. – Mexico Border is related to gender roles, family relations, special

occasions and traditional food practices.

Often, the first cultural practice that I think about is the tradition of La Quinceañera

(Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 58). A girl celebrates her fifteenth birthday and it represents

the most important event of her young life, which sometimes requires large sums of money.

In the United States, this cultural practice was for the first time adopted by Mexicans. The

parents of a fifteen year old girl have to find sponsors to organize the ceremony. The most

important thing for the girl is her look. She dresses up in a floor-length dress which

traditionally may be white or pink and she wears a crown which is considered as symbol of

this special event. The ―quince girl‖ (Conger, 2011) must choose fifteen chambelans (Conger,

2011) or young men. Regarding the rituals, this ceremony includes going to church, party and

changing of the girls shoes by her father.

Another tradition on the U.S. – Mexico border regions is considered one of the most

distinctive cultural beliefs related to family relations. As an example of cultural practices, I

have chosen to describe ―the machismo‖ (Cartwright & Shingles, 2011). In many Mexican-

18

origin households, the man of the house has to be quite strong and he has to be in charge of

the home, while the women must keep house, prepare meals and take care of the children.

The men are responsible to make decisions in the house. There is another tradition which

involves the practice of the oldest son. When the father is gone, the son has to take over the

role of his father and be the one in charge of the house. The young man has also authority

over his young sisters.

Another custom I have chosen to discuss is having padrinos (Richardson and

Resendiz, 2006: 69) for children. In English, the term ―padrinos‖ is translated as

―godparents‖. The baptized children have their second parents named in the border area

―padrinos‖. If the natural parents are very busy and unable to take care for the children then

the padrinos are in charge to do that. There is a traditional ceremony of baptism:

―After a baptism, it is customary for the family to get together outside the church. The family

forms a circle around the padrinos. The padrinos then throw up in the air a handful of coins

for all the children to get.‖ (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 69)

Mostly, between children’s parents and padrinos a very strong bond is formed and

they are compadres – Spanish form of the term ―co-parents‖.

From these few examples, I can see one specific characteristic in cultural practices

from the U.S. – Mexico Border region: the family is the most important element for the

residents of these areas. The necessities of the family are more important than necessities of

the individual. The examples of health care practices, Thanksgiving Day, La Quinceañera, the

machismo, padrinos are just some of the best known cultural practices from the U.S. –

Mexico Border.

There are more cultural practices that seem to be very interesting to describe in a few

words. For example there is the tradition of the abrazo (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 68)

or hug, which signifies the greeting between men. Another tradition related to family is the

marriage of children, by which they have to take the elderly parents into their new home. The

men are supposed to open their homes to an elderly parent and the women have to take care

of the parent. The elderly parent is either husband’s or wife’s parent. And this tradition

influences the other tradition, that of grandparents. They are in charge of disciplining their

grandchildren even if the parents are there. For the residents from the border regions it is not

19

unusual to see three generations living in the same house and every member in the family has

to contribute, including the youngest.

All these and other examples of cultural practices hold people together by celebration

of various special occasions. Often, the proximity to the border helps the ability to get people

together and maintain the traditions.

There are also other types of cultural practices. I found very interesting the honoring

of ―Angel of Death (La Santísima Muerte)‖ (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 74). This is

popular primarily in Mexico and United States, and Angel of Death represents the death.

Special attention to this is given on November 1 (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 74) every

year, because on that date is the Day of Dead in the World, on which the people honor their

deceased relatives or friends by going to clean up or decorate the grave. Unfortunately, in

same parts of the border regions, this custom is replaced by the famous Halloween. La

Santisima Muerte (the Angel of Death) is represented by a covered female skeleton which

holds a scythe and a globe and is dressed in a long robe.

A special day for Mexican American residents is that of Mother’s Day, which is

celebrated on the second Sunday in May. The husband and children show how much they

love and appreciate their mothers/ wives and they engage a group of ―mariachis‖ (Richardson

and Resendiz, 2006: 75) to serenade to their mothers. The New Year is celebrated in the

whole World with traditional dishes specific in the each country. On the U.S. – Mexico

Border States some people prepare buñuelos (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 74) on New

Year and Christmas Day. These buñuelos are a thin or round pastry fried in oil and often

covered with cinnamon sugar.

Regarding the child’s birthday, the most known tradition is having a piñata. ―A piñata

is a papier-mâché, cartoonlike container filled with candy and goodies that children take turns

trying to break with a stick as it is raised and lowered.‖ (Richardson and Resendiz, 2006: 75).

In some cases, not all children can enjoy this piñata, because their parents may not have

enough money for a piñata.

These are also some examples practices that include family relations. Another very

important day celebrated on the U.S.–Mexico borderlands is called Independence Day or El

Grito (Torres, 2012), which in English means the scream. This cultural day is celebrated on

September 16 every year and historically represents the independence of Mexicans from

20

Spain. As the other celebrations, this one also includes music, dance and specific foods. The

festivities at Independence Day take place in the United States as a whole, as well.

Clothing

A very important detail in each culture is how people dress on specific holidays. The

way in which the residents from the U. S. - Mexico border area are dressed resembles the

way in which the people from Mexico are dressed. The clothing identifies the symbol of one

nation. When I think about residents from the Border States, I imagine the women dressed up

in long skirts, mostly colored, and black blouses accompanied with shawls, and the men

which are called mariachis. The famous custom of mariachis is decorative and in general

there are black and white suits and each of them is used for different ceremonies. The black is

used at weddings and funerals, while the white suits are used at other events. Beside the suits,

they have a wide hat.

These are some of the famous traditional items of clothing related to Mexican-

American people. Besides the type of clothing that I have mentioned above, there are also the

suits of the legendary cowboys. What do they look like? Their appearance includes the

cowboy hat, cowboy boots, jeans and neckerchief. Besides the way in which they are dressed,

they appear on horseback. Traditionally, they must have knives in the pockets. The most

reputed cowboys live mostly in California, Texas and Arizona.

Food

As mentioned, all cultural traditions include music, dance and food. In this section, I

will also look at various types of meals that are specific in the U.S. – Mexico borderlands.

There are recipes that come from Mexican people. The delicious ―tortillas‖ (Richardson and

Resendiz, 2006: 78) are important both for Mexican culture and for Native American culture.

The tortillas are served not only in these areas, but also in Europe. They are served with

meals and there are two types of tortillas: corn tortilla is in general typical for Mexican

culture and flour tortilla is symbolic in Mexican Americans culture. Historically speaking,

corn tortillas were a food used by poor people who did not have utensils. Americans did not

find it so easy to make corn tortillas and people of Mexican-origin make them by using flour

instead of corn.

21

The meats that are most eaten in these areas are pork, beef, chicken ―prepared with

tomato-based sauces flavored by a variety of chiles and/or spices or herbs such as cumin and

cilantro, one of these meats is generally served with rice, beans, and corn tortillas‖ (Englekirk

& Marín). There are many meals that Mexican Americans prepare at special occasions:

―tamales (shredded and spiced pork or beef caked within cornmeal and wrapped in a

corn husk before steaming); enchiladas (corn tortillas lightly fried in oil then wrapped

around sliced chicken, shredded beef, cheese, or ground beef and various spices and

coated with a tomato and chile sauce before baking); mole (most often chicken, but

sometimes pork, combined with a sauce of chiles, chocolate, ground sesame or

pumpkin seeds, garlic, and various other spices, slow-cooked under a low flame on

the stove); chilaquiles (dried tortilla chips complemented by cheeses, chile, and

perhaps chorizo —spiced sausage—and/or chicken and a tomato-based sauce of green

or red chile stirred into a hash-like dish on the stove); chiles rellenos (green chiles

stuffed with a white cheese and fried in an egg batter that adheres to the chiles); and

posole (a soup-like stew which contains hominy as its essential ingredient, as well as

stew meat and various spices).‖ (Englekirk & Marin)

I have found it very interesting how the Mexican Americans prepare their meals. They

use a bowl-shaped stone for grinding food. This tool is called molcajete (Richardson and

Resendiz, 2006: 78).

The U.S. – Mexico Border cultural practices are described by all these traditions

which include food and clothing. As it can be seen, for the border citizens, the most important

influence in their culture is exerted by the family Through generations, the parents and

compadres educate their children and guide them to maintain the traditions and the influences

of the original customs that where derived throughout past experiences. At this time it is

worth mentioning that although the experiences and traditions seem to somewhat survive

among the Mexican American families, the melting pot that is the U.S. provides for

generational change. It is not uncommon that a second or a third generation born in the U.S.

will speak only English and will not look at Mexico as the mother country; instead they will

follow a mix of traditions from both sides of the border while looking to U.S. as their

country. In the next part of this chapter, I will focus on education at the U.S. – Mexico

Border.

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2. Education And Languages

2.1.Languages

Border life is more interesting primarily because of mixed heritage. People from

border regions possess good knowledge of several languages. In this particular case, people

from the U.S. – Mexico borderlands speak multiple languages. The multiple spoken

languages include English, Spanish and Indian languages, and several dialects of these

languages. Language plays the most important role in the creation of relationships between

Mexican and American borderlands citizens. Language switching takes the most important

place in creation and maintaining of borderlands cultural practices and occurs in variety of

communications. In my opinion the language represents a code switching in which these

people are always engaged.

In the southern United States, the language which is most frequently spoken is

Spanish. Historically speaking, in border areas - not only in America, but on other continents

as well -, people have a major common problem. For example, most immigrants do not know

the language of the country they have emigrated to. Initially, many Mexicans moved to the

United States, in the area that was already populated mostly by people of their own heritage,

and worked with these people. In this way, they did not have a built in urgency to learn the

English language, they just learn the Basic English. The continual entry of New Mexican

immigrants in United States revived the culture and native language of the older immigrants

and people born in US of Mexican descent.

Nowadays, English has overtaken Spanish as the primary language among the

youngest Mexican immigrants, but at home they speak Spanish, so that the youngest

members do not forget the native language. Many children are not so interested in learning

Spanish as their parents would like them to be. A great impact in replacing Spanish with

English was that of television and the contact among the youngest generations of Mexican

Americans and Anglo Americans. In many school systems, the use of Spanish in the

classroom is discouraged and sometimes forbidden.

In some regions from the United States, for example in New Mexico, people still

speak a Spanish which is quite similar to the language spoken in Spain in the days when the

first Spanish colonists arrived in America. In other regions, Mexican Spanish is spoken. This

23

language differs to the language spoken, mostly in the pronunciation of certain consonants

and vowel. This language is often used in various domains, mostly in agricultural domain.

To prove the difference between these dialects I have chosen this example:

―The native word for grass, zacate, replaced the Spanish word hierba- and guajolote and

tecolote, of Indian derivation, replaced the Spanish words for turkey and owl.‖ (Englekirk &

Marín)

All dialects depend on several elements of life standards. These elements involve the

rural or urban identity of speaker, the economy and education. The language may differ from

one region to another region in the United States and so the immigrants in the areas consider

that the Mexican American Spanish is somehow difficult. (Englekirk & Marín)

However, the residents from Border States have to speak effectively two languages,

English and Spanish. This depends on which situation they are in. In general, people speak at

home their native language and in public they have to speak the native language of the

country in which they are. In this case, the Mexicans citizens speak Spanish at home and

when they go out, they use English, all this depending upon circumstances or need.

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2.2. Education

Regarding education along the border, one could say that the level of education here

is lower than in the central part of the United States.

Education in the United States takes into account two things: ―1) percent of the

population older than 25 years of age who have completed high school; and 2) the number of

schools per 100,000 populations.‖ (Subhrajit Guhthakurta, 2010). Education is an important

factor, especially in today’s US. The first category mentioned above includes high school

taxes and it is related to payment for education in order to allocate public resources. As a part

of social capital, education leads the economic Development, thus the overall number of

graduating students; especially high school graduation rates in the border states, provide the

basis for the amount of investment federal government puts in the public education

infrastructure. In some border regions 68 to 72 percent of people graduate high school. In

other parts along the border, this percentage change. For example, in San Diego this involves

82 percent, in Yuma 73 and El Paso 68 (Subhrajit Guhthakurta, 2010). The schools from U.S.

border regions have availability rates.

In my opinion, education along the border is a most complicated task in the society. In

this century, many young parents may send their children to a school where the mother

tongue is not Spanish, but English. The primary school is necessary. The first Mexican

immigrants resided in rural areas, where attendance in primary school was high, but in the

secondary school was not so high, due to economic factors. So, for some families it was

difficult to let their children continue their schooling.

In the U.S., some children from poor immigrant families, as well as those with better

financial income, have the chance to continue their studying. Some administrators and

teachers in the educational system disagree with the importance of Hispanic cultural practices

in support of those held by majority.

―The assimilationist philosophy endorsed by the public school system was designed "to shape

desirable behaviors for functioning in America" and to encourage uniformity of perspective

regardless of differences in the ethnic heritage among the student population.‖ (Englekirk &

Marín)

25

The opportunities for school education are higher in urban than in rural areas. In the

cities, most of Hispanics find more alternative sources and advantages in the educational

system related to salary. They also find the teaching methods more attractive. One of the

rules is the segregation of educational facilities. In some school systems, the Mexican

American and African-American students are joining together and these minorities are not

combining with Anglo American students. This educational separate proved that the minority

students were often poor. ―While there are increasing numbers of minority students in U.S.

schools, the teaching force remains 87% white and middle class; 74% of all teachers are

female.‖ (McCammon, 2003)

The main problem in the educational system of the border areas is how to teach

children who belong to other minority group, in this case Hispanic children. The books and

other resources which are necessary in the classrooms for Hispanic community are very

important. Unfortunately, books in Spanish are not so easily to find. Yet, in the classroom

must be taken into account the stories about their culture, history and ethnic identities.

Currently in the U.S. – Mexico borderlands drama/theatre is used (McCammon, 2003:

6) in the schools and elsewhere, where various cultural approaches are supported. However,

drama is different from theatre. ―According to Richard Wagner the goal of educational drama

is to create an experience through which students may come to understand human

interactions, empathize with other people and alternative points of view.‖ (McCammon,

2003: 7). The educational drama involves the various activities in which the students’ roles

are to solve various problems of encounter challenges. The teacher and students work

interactively in classroom. There are many activities to learn and many games by which the

students can learn how to work together cooperatively. The educational drama depends on

reflection and feedback. The feedback can facilitate the connection between students and

their teachers.

The students work in groups, solve problems and develop many improvisations that

are shared with the teacher. In this way, the students improve their language and social skills.

To improve their language and communicative skills, they use many books written in order to

represent Hispanic living standards and heritage. Thus, the Hispanic children read, write,

listen and speak in their native language, but they can also learn another language. Drama is

also important in building ―the self-confidence‖ (McCammon, 2003: 8). The students also

26

learn to understand the other students. This fact include also the listening many cultural

expressions.

It is important that the stories from books about Hispanic culture may be also

presented to the audience. Of course, these stories are reproduced by children in theatrical

productions. The drama and theatre education help the understanding of culture in the border

areas. Education is very important in the way in which the people view their quality of life

and has a very important role in increasing access to significant paid work. There are some

valuable behaviors which increase with education, such as volunteering, voting and greater

general participation in society. Generally, the citizens from the border cities consider that the

quality of higher education in the region can be improved, however, as are the system

functions and seems to provide the necessities needed.

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III Quality of Life in the Border Regions

1. Living standards on the U.S. – Mexico Border

In the previous chapter, I have identified some of the most important and renowned

cultural practices and beliefs from the U.S.-Mexico border regions. All these cultural

practices depend primarily on the quality of life, but also on living standards. In this chapter,

I will try to identify all the phenomena included in living standards. I will define these

standards taking into account the political and economic factors.

The living standards in the U.S.-Mexico border region include many important

phenomena such as economy, housing and population. In this border region, the population

does not share a ―binational system‖ (Collins 2013: 45). The population in this border region

has emerged as a significant policy issue in both United States and Mexico. There are two

separate nations, with different cultures and policies, and this may affect the region. As

mentioned in the first chapter, In the U. S.-Mexico border region live 13 million people, out

of two sovereign nations, American and Spanish. The largest minority group is that of the

U.S. Hispanic population, and there are also approximately 25 Native American Nations. The

people in the border areas often move to the other side of the border in order to live there.

The residents living in the border areas have access to numerous services, commercial,

educational and other activities on both U.S. and Mexico side. For example, the residents

from Mexico find the U.S. services more accessible for a better quality of life.

The living standards are affected by policy, which is the most important factor in a

country. Regarding the policy in the U.S.-Mexico border, I could mention that there are

different domestic issues for the American and the Hispanic nation. For the Mexicans’ side,

the economic growth is a very important matter, but for the Americans’ side, the most

important matter is based on ―national security and stemming the high flow of immigration

while maintaining trade relations‖ (Collins 2013: 45). In this way, people find it very hard to

cross the border and there are problems of sovereignty and nationalism in the United States,

as well as in Mexico. This happens because of the absence of binational institutions and

financial limitations. The border region is an amalgam of the so called joined city regions,

and as such these regions work together with various amounts of success, the idea of an

overall homogenous border region is dissolved. Each border region – or, in the other words,

each of the 14 pairs of sister cities – on the U.S.-Mexico Border interact differently. One city

28

from a border region can have an economic development, while the other city may be

considered agricultural community. All border regions have just one thing in common, that is

―creating both a physical and cultural divide‖. (Collins, 2013: 47).

Besides policy, in my opinion, the living standards are also represented by many other

factors, such as cultural and health care, education, economy, and housing. All these factors

reveal one thing which is very important either in a country or in the whole World. This is

economic development. Thus, the economists and other scientists have used for a long time

the so called Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a basic indicator of the level of well-being in

society, also used for comparing the same place at different points and places in time.

(Anderson and Gerber, 2007: 162) This GDP also represents a basic indicator of economic

development and other elements which characterized the various environmental

circumstances such as politics, nonmarket transactions and others. The problem here is the

possibility of having economic growth without economic development that, in general,

requires growth. Regarding the U.S.-Mexico border regions, between economic growth and

economic development there is an income inequality that focuses on the benefits of economic

growth. Economic development is very important, because it consists in various changes in

improving the quality of life. Generally speaking, for the cities are characteristic the centers

national economic life, while for the villages is characteristic agriculture and fabrics of

national economy are placed in the isolated areas. There are also some challenges in economy

development, for example the migrations from villages to cities or the loss of traditions in the

cities.

In the paragraph above, I have talked about economic development in general.

Regarding the economic development on the U.S.-Mexico border, I could mention that this

massive Border disposes of ―one of the greatest economic disparities in the world‖ (Anderson

and Gerber, 2007: 164). Both regions in Mexico and regions in the United States interact with

each other in order to decrease the disparity of economy and effects of poverty.

For example, the proximity of the United States offers Mexican border residents with

abundance of: clothing, building materials, furnishings, appliances, used cars and car parts,

and old tires, which are used for everything from retaining walls to stairways to planter boxes.

Six old wooden garage doors that sell for $25 apiece are all that is needed for a house,

including the roof. The Mexican side provides U.S. border dwellers with access to cheaper

29

housing, lower-cost doctors and pharmaceuticals, and lower-cost labor, among other things.

(Anderson and Gerber, 2007: 164)

The situations which indicate the quality of life in the border regions from the United

States are lower than the national average, while the situations which indicate the quality of

life in the Mexico border regions are higher than the national average. The census bureaus

from United States and Mexico collect the data in which are reproduced the differences in

economic development. This data could change every year and the changes in economic

development may be parallel in both United States and Mexico or they could differ. One

country could be collecting data on houses that ―lack some plumbing‖ (Anderson and Gerber,

2007: 164) and the other country - data on lack of water or electricity.

Otherwise, the U.S.-Mexico Border region is considered ―one of the most dynamic

and rapidly growing areas‖ (Strategic Guidelines: 29). In fact, this happens because of

advantages that the U.S.–Mexico Border States could have, for example lands and

engineering services from Mexico and research and science from the United States.

Regarding GDP, in Mexico this is measured at a state level and thus the growth of the

national GDP has been outpaced. In U.S. border regions, the national GDP has been also

outpaced for a long time. The arrival of migrants on both sides of the border in regions

caused the increasing of produce and the producing of the ground fertile for investments.

Mexico government follows the plan of the so called foreign direct investment (FDI)

(Strategic Guidelines: 29) while the government in the United States does not follow it. The

United States gives more than one-fourth of its total investment to three states where the FDI

of U.S. is located. These three are Baja California, Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon. The other

three states – Coahuila, Sonora and Tamaulipas – received less than one-fourth of U.S.

investment. (Strategic Guidelines: 30)

There is ―a factory in Mexico that makes products cheaply for export to the US‖

(Cambridge dictionary: 2008) called maquiladora, which noted a growth during the first years

of NAFTA. In fact, this maquiladora produces better incomes on the border regions from

U.S. than on the Mexican sides. Maquiladora is also related to the U.S. Border States’

companies.

All these factors – GDP, FDI and maquiladora – represent some of the elements that

describe the living standards on the United States-Mexico Border States, which are specific

for this area.

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2. Economy

In the previous part of this chapter, I introduced the term of living standard on Border

States. That especially refers to the economy. In this chapter, I will also discuss the most

important factor not only in a country, but in the whole world. To achieve the basic idea of

this part, namely the economy on the U.S.-Mexico Border, I will first mention that this

Border region is the largest area in the world where economic interaction is very intensive,

both in counties and in cities. From the point of view of economy on border areas, it could be

said that the economy on the U.S.-Mexico border differs from the economy on the Serbia-

Romania Border by high-technology, but both border areas include agriculture, farming and

manufacturing. Besides this, economy is a very important factor in tourism, which is specific

for each country. The other difference between the U.S.-Mexico Border and the Serbia-

Romania Border is the fact that the last one has a common trade that is agriculture, farming

and tourism, while on the first border this trade differs from a country to another:

The Mexican side of the border is dependent on agriculture, manufacturing (mostly in the

maquiladoras) and tourism. On the U.S. side, the principal economic activities are

government and military, business services, and high-technology, especially around the San

Diego region. (Anderson and Gerber, 2010: 45)

As mentioned above, the economics branch includes, beside agriculture and tourism,

commerce. Regarding the commerce on the Border States, I must mention that in these

regions commerce is very successful. The two big countries of the Americas are trading

partners; for Mexico, the largest trading partner is the neighboring country that is the United

States, while for the last one, Mexico is the second largest trading partner. Seventy percent of

bilateral commerce crosses the border via trucks, meaning the border region is literally where

―the rubber hits the road‖ for bilateral relations. (Wilson and Lee, 2013: 60)

The population growth and its capacity for economic and commercial boom are

independent of development in infrastructure and do not depend on the areas port of entry

excellence in processing goods and migrant workers coming to United States. Thus, instead

of this fact, there was an extensive border security which occurred after the terrorist attack of

September 9, 2001, the day in which two planes crashed into the Twin Towers of New York.

People coming into United States tend to spend exorbitant amount of time at border customs

31

regardless if they travel for business or pleasure. Nowadays, the Obama administration has

produced some advances regarding the way of border crossing, but this needs efforts.

Certainly the investments in updating the infrastructure need to be moderate, as well

as the ports of entry need to be completely under control. There are programs for traveler and

shipper which allow the examined of the persons which have no health problems and also of

the expedited passage across the border of shipments. The best known of this type of

programs are the Global Entry programs, which includes the other programs such as

SENTRI, FAST, and C-TPAT (Wilson and Lee, 2013: 61). Thereby, the improving of these

programs and the increasing registration of people who cross the border may lead to an

increase with minimal investments of amount in infrastructure. In this way, the border

officials have enough time to examine the individual which may be suspicious for them.

The border region tends to organize itself in terms of north-south trade corridors as a natural

result of the cross-border relationships that facilitate the flow of goods. This phenomenon

manifests itself in the development of everything from interest groups to regional border

master plans. Without a doubt, economic development and competitiveness in the region is

anything but uniform, ranging from the great wealth of San Diego to the pockets of severe

poverty in the Rio Grande Valley, from the aerospace cluster in Baja California to the vast

deserts of Sonora and Coahuila. (Wilson and Lee, 2013: 61)

It is considered that commerce between the United States and Mexico is one of the

most successful in the entire world of economy. This happens because the economy of the

U.S.-Mexico Border; besides manufacturing, tourism and the other elements that I have

mentioned above it includes also the infrastructure, human capital and shopping as well.

With more than a billion dollars of commercial traffic crossing the border each day, it is

literally at the U.S.-Mexico border region where ―the rubber hits the road‖ in terms of this

expanded regional trade. This is because more than 70% of total binational commerce passes

through the border region via trucks. (Wilson and Lee, 2013: 62)

All the Border States, i.e. four Border States in the United States and six Border States

in Mexico, have bilateral economic relations, but the value of economy is extended beyond

the border region. Mexico is the number one importer of US goods. Mexico imports tend to

be computers and electronics and they tend to buy from around the US and as far away as

32

New Hampshire. In fact, Mexico is the first or second most important export market for

twenty-one states from Colorado to Ohio, and twenty U.S. states sell more than a billion

dollars’ worth of goods to Mexico each year. The United States is an even more important

market for Mexican exports and thus, seventy-nine percent of Mexican exports are sold to the

United States, including products produced in the border region and throughout the country.

(Wilson and Lee, 2013: 63)

The U.S. – Mexico trade has a very impressive quantity and this makes the quality of

commerce unique. Like the other countries, these two bordering countries sell goods one to

another and they also manufacture all these goods. For example, if there is something

produced in the United States that will be imported in Mexico, where it will be sold. This

process is also applied in Mexico. Production sharing is an idea that suggests that products

imported by each country should contain large amount of parts being made in the importing

country; for example, U.S. imports from Mexico contain, on average, 40 percent U.S.

content, and Mexico’s imports from the U.S. also have a high level of Mexican content.

(Wilson and Lee, 2013: 63)

Besides this percent of content, there are also two other important results. One

consists in linked economies and the second one is the crossing of the goods on the border

several times and this second result makes also a gain or loss for border efficiency. In

addition to imported goods, the U.S.-Mexico trade includes also the other products or

services such as automobiles, aerospace, home appliances, and medical devices. The

production of metal objects like automobiles requires an accomplished work. In the United

States, employers of such work are often designers, materials producers and manufacturers.

In Mexico there are engineers and plant managers.

Besides goods, automobiles and other materials, the two big countries import also

agricultural products. United States exports food products to states like Iowa, Nebraska and

South Dakota. Mexico export fruits and vegetables to Sinaloa and Michoacán. (Wilson and

Lee, 2013: 64)

The largest trade corridor, often referred to as the NASCO corridor, links central and eastern

Mexico to Texas, the American Midwest, Northeast, and Ontario, utilizing the key Laredo-

Nuevo Laredo ports of entry (POEs). Other important trade arteries include the CANAMEX

Corridor, which connects western Mexico to the intermountain United States, and Canadian

33

province of Alberta, as well as the shorter but high-volume I-5 corridor connecting California

to Baja California. As the economies of both the U.S. and Mexico grow, it is likely that this

network of freight transportation infrastructure—and the land ports of entry that serve as

nodes in this network—will experience added stress. (Wilson and Lee, 2013: 65)

The economy on the U.S.-Mexico Border does not include only the transferring goods

and other products from one country to another. It also includes the most important economic

branch, which is tourism. Mexico is the first tourist attraction for people from the United

States and most visitors come from the U.S. every year. For United States tourists from

Mexico are also the second largest group of foreign visitors, after the group from Canada.

According to a study by the University of Arizona on Mexican visitors to Arizona, in 2007-08

Mexican visitors spent $2.69 billion in the state of Arizona, generating 23,400 direct jobs and

7,000 indirect jobs in the state. It is the land ports of entry, then, that play the pivotal role in

facilitating commercial exchange between the United States and Mexico. (Wilson and Lee,

2013: 65)

In this chapter I will describe all the Border States – four in U.S. and six in Mexico –

which have many places to visit, in other words, they are tourist attractions on the U.S.-

Mexico Border. In addition to tourist attractions, the best known visited place is Arizona,

which is one of the largest state parks in the World. More details about border territories will

be described in the next part of this chapter. As it can be observed, the economy on the U.S. –

Mexico Border is very important for the quality of life in these regions, including the goods,

the manufacturing products and places to visit. The two countries share all the products and

in this way they make their economy the fourth largest economy in the world.

34

3. Housing

For the specific quality of life on the U.S.-Mexico Border, we should take into

consideration the housing. I have started this chapter with living standards and economic

development, which somehow condition the way in which residents from the border areas

keep their housing. It is obvious that, like in other countries, there are poor and rich people.

Their housing is different. For both sides of the U.S.-Mexico Border are specific two types of

housing: mansions and shacks. Mansions represent a very large and expensive house.

Opposite to mansions are the shacks, which are defined in the Cambridge Dictionary as ―a

very simple and small building made from pieces of wood, metal or other materials‖.

Housing needs many obligatory services such as electricity, water and sewage

disposal. The first of these three services is proved to be the cheapest, while the last one is the

most expensive. The water can range between cheapest and expensive. On the Mexican side

of the border, there are many houses lacking running water. There are two sources of water:

a water truck which is more expensive than the second one – piped water. People who use

piped water are in general the poor people. Those without this source of water use either the

barrels or a supply of bathing water. In other cases, they use water from the bottle. Around

the 1980s, it was estimated in Tijuana that people from the poor regions could be spending as

much as 5 percent of their income on water (Anderson and Gerber, 2007: 166).

Regarding the size of the houses, I could mention that in the Mexican border regions,

the houses may have one, two, three or even more rooms. In the Mexican border regions,

houses tend to be smaller in relation to Mexico as whole. In the U.S. border region, the

houses could be small or large, with not more than three rooms. The main condition to find a

new house is the price. What is the price of a median house on the U.S.-Mexico Border?

Looking for housing has increased because of population growth in the border regions. The

price in housing has also increased.

In San Diego, for example, an area with limited land for housing and rapid population growth,

the median house price rose from $179,000 in January 1990 to $259,000 in December 2000.

By the end of 2005, the median house price had climbed to over half a million dollars,

affordable only to families in the top 10 percent income bracket. Rents have also climbed to

much higher levels, and because the minimum wage in California is $6.75 per hour, housing

35

shortages and unique coping strategies have become common. (Anderson and Gerber, 2007:

171)

A strategy is the huddling of more people into apartments and houses. In general,

residents cross the border in order to find cheaper housing. Unfortunately, the number of

homeless families increases. The San Diego urban homeless population in 2004 was

estimated to exceed 7,000 people, of which 32 percent were families with children; those

families did not earn enough to afford both food and rent (Anderson and Gerber, 2007: 171).

The incomes of poor residents and the price of housing are larger than in other regions from

the United States. In the border region from Mexico, one can find reasonable housing for the

poor people downtown, where there is a cheap land to buy. People often buy an irregular land

on the edges of urban places and then they regularize this land with urban services,

construction often with bricks, cement and cinder blocks. They also regularize this land with

title of property.

The landholders from Texas can sell the land when they subdivide it and there is no

need to make an improvement. Many lands are sold at a low price, and thus it can be very

reasonable for families with low-incomes. The land is sold using the so called ―a system of

contracts for deeds (CFDs)‖ (Anderson and Gerber, 2007: 172) in which the buyer of a house

pay a difference between the current value and total value of the house. When the complete

price is given, the parity can be provided. In other words, the buyers have to pay an advance

and the interest on this system is very high. The process of paying the new house takes

sometimes a long time.

The seller must give the buyers the ―annual summaries of the status of the CFD‖

(Anderson and Gerber, 2007: 173) and they also have to give to the buyers documents

regarding the services of houses, that is the availability of electricity, water and sewage

system. People who want to buy a land as soon as possible have to buy using this system of

CFD. They first introduce house the electricity and sewage system is often the last one; water

is introduced in the meantime. With the introduction of water, people often move to their new

neighborhood.

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4. Border Territories

This chapter consists in four parts. In the first part I discuss living standards on the

U.S. – Border, including the economic development. In the second part, I discuss economy,

which has as economy branch, the tourism. To specify the tourism on the U.S. – Mexico

Border, I will describe the border territories. In the first chapter, I mentioned only the names

of the Border Region. In this chapter, I will discuss in detail each of the U.S. – Mexico

Border Territories. For the United States are characteristic four border regions: California,

Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. In Mexico there are six border regions: Baja California,

Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas. Besides this regions, there are

the so called sisters cities (San Diego-Tijuana/California-Baja California, Calexico-

Mexicali/California-Baja California, Yuma-San Luis/Arizona-Sonora, Nogales-

Nogales/Arizona-Sonora, Naco-Naco/Arizona-Sonora, Douglas-Agua Prieta/Arizona-Sonora,

Columbus-Puerto Palomas/New Mexico-Chihuahua, El Paso-Ciudad Juárez/Texas-

Chihuahua, Presidio-Ojinaga/Texas-Chihuahua, Del Rio-Ciudad Acuña/Texas-Coahuila,

Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras/Texas-Coahuila, Laredo-Nuevo Laredo/Texas-Tamaulipas,

McAllen-Reynosa/Texas-Tamaulipas, and Brownsville-Matamoros/Texas-Tamaulipas).

(PAHO, 2007: 733)

As I mentioned in the first chapter, from a geographical point of view, the U.S.-

Mexico Border is an area that covers nearly 2000 miles. In this border territory, the climate is

in general arid and the area is specific because of its water resources. The Sonora and

Chihuahua deserts are ―the most prominent physiographic provinces where precipitation

ranges from 3 to 12 inches (75 to 300 millimeters) annually‖ (Strategic Guidelines, 2009: 25).

Generally speaking, the periods in which it rains are July, August and also in the winter. In

the summers, the temperatures are very high, even 120oF (48oC). This temperature could

predominate in the Lower Colorado River Valley. In these border territories one could

imagine that is a desert in which people lives, where there are cities. In these deserts there are

also some rivers, for example Colorado River and Rio Grande. Besides deserts, there are

many seaside zones where the temperature does no change so much and where the

precipitations are quite high.

The U.S. – Mexico Border areas are characteristic by their various ecosystems and

natural resources which include the ―freshwater, marine and wetland ecosystems, deserts,

rangelands, and several forest types‖ (Strategic Guidelines, 2009: 25). We should not forget

37

to mention that the cacti grow in these areas. There are various species of this plant which,

for example, are native to Arizona, Chihuahua and other territories. Cacti are often in single

valleys. Sonora is a region with diverse vegetation of several deserts in the world. In the

western regions, like Arizona, Sonora, and Chihuahua, there are ranges of mountains

separated by valleys. The vegetation in these regions is different from the vegetation in the

valleys. The cities are settled generally in the valleys and these valleys are specific for

agriculture and ranches of cattle.

As mentioned above, the U.S. – Mexico Border has two major rivers, one is in the

United States and the other one is in Mexico. The first one is called Colorado River and it

represents the greatest river in the Southern United States and Northern Mexico.

The Colorado River supplies water for 30 million people. It is one of the most contested,

recreated-upon, and carefully controlled rivers on Earth. Diverted under peaks, utilized by

turbines that create hydropower, and stored by enormous reservoirs, the 1,450-mile-long

Colorado faces growing challenges associated with increasing population, declining

ecosystems, drought, and expected climate change. (nationalgeographic.com)

It can be observed on the map that Colorado River’ headwaters are in Colorado, more

precisely in Rocky Mountain National Park and the river flows toward California then it

flows into Pacific Ocean. The Colorado River runs through six states in the United States

and in Mexico through two states. This river represents an ecosystem important in economy,

more exactly in agriculture and industry. Regarding its name, Colorado River was named by

the Spanish Rio Colorado or Red River and today no one can understand why the person gave

it the name Red River because, in fact, the color of the river is not red. Today, the Colorado

River has two colors - blue and green, depending on the region.

The second river is called Rio Grande. As it can be observed on the map, the Rio

Grande River separates two countries – the United States and Mexico. It forms the border

between Texas - a state in the U.S. - and Mexico. It begins from the San Juan Mountains and

it flows through three states in the United States and through five states in Mexico. The total

length of the river is about 1,900 miles (3,060 kilometers) (Encyclopedia Britannica). The

Rio Grande is represented by a wildlife which includes various species of animals such as

bears, kangaroo rats, beavers and various species of migratory birds. Regarding its name of

the Rio Grande River, this river in Mexico is also called Rio Bravo. The Spanish name is Rio

38

Grande del Norte or Rio Bravo del Norte (Encyclopedia Britannica). In this area, the

important occupations are still agriculture, industry and the animal farming. Rio Grande

represents one of the greatest national parks in the world.

Besides rivers, there are the border regions which are, in fact, the tourist attractions.

The part that I named Border Territories consists in describing the ten U.S. – Mexico Border

States. I will focus on the border regions from United States. The first region that I will

discuss is California, a border region in the United States.

California

California is a state in the Southern United States of America and it is the third largest

state in the whole country. The state covers an area of about 158,706 (http://www.ca.gov)

square miles. The number of population makes this region a state with the highest number of

population which is around 37,679,000 (http://www.ca.gov). Looking at the map, it can be

noticed that California’s capital is Sacramento. Before Sacramento, the capital cities were

San Jose, Vallejo and the previous one, Benicia. But these cities are not the largest cities of

California. The largest city is the famous Los Angeles, then San Francisco, San Diego,

Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento. For California there is a specific nickname that is ―The

Golden State‖, which represents the flag of California on which are drawn a bear on the grass

and a red star in the left side of the image. In addition to the flag, there is the seal of the State

of California. On the seal, it is represented a soldier with an arrow in its right hand and in the

other hand he has a buckler. The California Grizzly Bear is also represented on the seal and it

is next to the soldier. On the image, above the soldier, one could see the Eureka. That is the

motto of the State of California: Eureka (―I have found it‖) (http://www.ca.gov).

The State of California is bordering Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona in The United

States and Baja California in Mexico. On the other side, California has exit to the Pacific

Ocean. Because of its six national parks, California offers a beautiful geographical view.

There are national parks in the North, in Central California and in Southern California. In

addition to the geographical characteristic, there are the living standards which include

education together with spoken languages, economy, and others. I will focus more on spoken

languages because the languages are more interesting on the border regions. Before

discussing about languages, I should mention the famous song of California, ―I love you,

California‖.

39

English is the first spoken language in California. Then follow the other languages

and there are around forty percent of California’s residents for whom English is not their

native language. The second spoken language in California is Spanish used by about 26

percent of residents (Race and Ethnicity in California, 2003: 1). Besides Spanish, there are

other languages originating from Asia, like Chinese and Japanese. One can see Chinese

people no matter where you travel in the world. Regarding the culture of California, in this

region cultural practices are almost the same as in the whole Southern United States

influenced by Hispanic population.

Arizona

California’s bordering region is Arizona. This border state is the sixth largest state

from United States and its statehood dates from 14 February 1912. In the area of around

113,990 square miles live about 6,392,017 of people. (http://www.history.com) In general,

this area is urban; there are more cities than villages. The growing of urban area is due to the

expenditure of the villages. Every U.S. border state has their specific nicknames. While

California’s nickname is ―The Golden State‖, Arizona’s nickname is ―Grand Canyon State‖.

(http://www.history.com) Some researchers estimate the fact that the name of Arizona comes

from a phrase in the Basque language, which means ―place of oaks‖. There are other

scientists who estimate that the name comes from a Tohono O’odham (Papago) Indian phrase

meaning ―place of the young (or little) spring.‖ (http://www.history.com)

As it can be observed on the map, the Arizona’s capital is Phoenix and the others big

cities are Tucson, Sedona Flagstaff, Grand Canyon Village, Tombstone, etc. Arizona State is

bordering with New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and California in the United States, Baja

California and Sonora in Mexico. The border line between Arizona and California is the

Colorado River. The flag of Arizona is designated by a copper star with a colored background

in blue with thirteen rays colored in red and yellow. The copper star has a significance which

is the presentation of Arizona as a region where the copper is produced. The great seal of

Arizona has in the middle a person with two digging tools. On the top of the picture it writes

the motto of the State of Arizona: ―Ditat Deus‖ which in English means ―God enriches‖

(http://www.history.com).

I found very interesting the fact that, except one state in the North which is occupied

by Navajo Nation, Arizona is the only U.S. state which does not measure the Daylight Saving

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Time. The state of Arizona is also known the state with the greatest number of Navajo

people. These people represent a very large tribe with a specific culture. Their culture is

based on the law of the tribe. They are famous for the painting of the sand. It is said that the

family of this tribe has a kinship system which is called ―clan‖ and today this tribe has about

150 clans. (The Big Myth, 2011: 2). Usually, it is not permissible for people to marry people

in the same clan. That would be one of the interesting characteristics of this nation. The other

characteristic is that if there are tourists who visit this tribe, then they have to know that

people of Navajo origins are quiet between 11 PM and 6 Am and the visitors must be quiet as

well.

Besides the Navajo population, there are also Spanish, Chinese, etc. The spoken

languages in the state of Arizona are English, Spanish, and the language of Navajo people,

Chinese, German, French and others.

New Mexico

The next border region from the United States, that separates the big country from

Mexico, is the so called New Mexico. Some people may confuse Mexico and New Mexico.

Mexico is the country in the South of North America continent while New Mexico is one of

the 50 United States.

It is called New Mexico because, in fact, it was a territory occupied by the Spanish

people and today it is a U.S. border territory. It became a U.S. state in 1912

(http://www.history.com). Even if the largest and more important city is Albuquerque, the

capital of New Mexico is Santa Fe. Besides these two cities, there are other cities such as

Alamogordo, Los Alamos, Carlsbad, Taos and others. In the area of around 121,590 square

miles live about 2,059,179 of residents (http://www.history.com). As the previous two

territories, New Mexico’s nickname is ―Land of Enchantment‖. The flag of this state seems to

be very simple because on a yellow background is the so called Zia Sun (Encyclopedia

Britannica), which is colored in red. On the great seal of the state of New Mexico are drawn

two eagles: one represents a Mexican eagle that eats the snake and the other is the American

eagle – with a motto bellow: ―Crescit Eundo‖, which in English means ―It Grows as it Goes‖.

In New Mexico as well as in all U.S. – Mexico Border States there live mixed ethnic

groups which include the Native Americans, Hispanics, Chinese, Navajo and others. Thus,

the spoken languages are English, Spanish, Chinese, etc. New Mexico is the region where the

41

world’s first atomic bomb called Trinity Site was tested. This happened on July 16, 1945 and

it was created by a project of Manhattan. (http://www.history.com) The bomb was so strong

that even the residents 19km away felt the explosion.

This is a negative thing in the history of New Mexico, but this region has its

Metropolitan city which I mentioned above. Albuquerque is ―the multicultural city includes

strong African American, Asian, Middle Eastern and other ethnic communities, creating a

unique and modern Southwestern blend. In fact, more than 70 different ethnicities call

Albuquerque home‖. (http://www.visitalbuquerque.org) In the city of Albuquerque, there is a

very interesting event which is organized every year in October. The event is called the

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The name itself says everything, it is about the

balloons which fly above the city and it represents one of the greatest tourist attractions.

There are more than 600 colorful air balloons. (http://www.history.com)

Texas

The fourth border region on the U.S. – Mexico Border is the famous state of Texas.

Like New Mexico, Texas was colonized by Spanish in 1718 (http://www.history.com) when

the founded San Antonio. After gaining its independence from Mexico, the Republic of

Texas was an independent country for a decade before it decided to join the United States in

1845 (http://www.history.com).

Texas is the largest U.S. – Mexico border state. On an area of 268,597 square miles

live around 25,145,561 habitants (http://www.history.com). The Texas’s capital is Austin.

The other cities are Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and others. The name Texas comes from an

Indian word which signifies ―friend‖ and from this term derives the motto of this state, which

is Friendship. Thus, the great seal of the state of Texas designed a white star surrounded by

two branches – the branch from the right side is a brunch with oaks, while the other branches

have olives – on a blue background. The flag is simply three colors that are also in the flag of

United States: blue, white and red. The blue color is on the right with one white star; the

white color is on the left on top and behind this color is red.

One of the great longstanding traditions in the border regions of US and Mexico is the

Rodeo tradition. On both sides of the border, either Vaqueros or Cowboys, as they are called

in Spanish and English, have a tradition of showing off their skills in different settings such

as Bull riding, Calf roping and Horse training. These traditions go back to the eighteenth

42

century, when cattlemen developed entertainment for themselves, while moving livestock

over large territories. Today, these traditions have become great entertainment for the masses,

and Rodeo is practiced throughout both the US and Mexico. This is one of the best known

cultural practices in the region of Texas.

43

Conclusion

The U.S. – Mexico Border is a multicultural border region, where there is a mixture of

American and Mexican culture. Considering the fact that the U.S. territories from the

Southern border areas once belonged to Mexico, the U.S. – Mexico Border enjoys a mixed

heritage and a mixture of cultural practices. Cultural practices are one of the defining

elements that de-lineate one region from another and, at the same time, provide common

cultural practices, cultural beliefs, education, economy and living standards that relate people

to each other. The U.S. – Mexico Border tends to exemplify a commonality and the

differences within the de-lineation that I mentioned above. In this border territory, one could

find the influences of Native American, Hispanic, Latino and Anglo culture. Besides, this

multicultural border territory includes other ethnic communities such as Asian or African

American, which altogether create a unique blend of Southern U.S.

My purpose in this diploma paper was to find out more about the border region and

offer to the reader an overview of life in the border areas. As I live in a border area myself, I

will try to make a difference between the U.S. – Mexico and the Serbia – Romania borders.

Doing the research for this paper, I tried to find out what makes the difference between these

two border areas. In my opinion, both areas face the same problems that are education and

languages. For example, in Serbia there live Romanian families that send their children to

Serbian schools. There is also a mixture of Serbian–Romanian culture, which sometimes also

includes Hungarian culture. Like the U.S. – Mexico Border, the Serbia – Romania border

tends to exemplify the commonality of cultural practices.

In Serbia, the Romanian residents have their specific customs, while the Serbian ones

- others. An example is the Christmas holidays, which are not celebrated on the same date.

On December 25 every year, Romanians celebrate Christmas day in the family, next to the

Christmas tree, opening the presents, preparing food and going to church. The second day,

people go to their godparents with presents. It is similar to American Christmas day. The

Serbians have another custom on Christmas day. On January 6, on the Christmas Eve called

Badnje veće, the Serbians go to the church with badnjak (a branch of a tree) and put it in the

fire. Before that, people go find this tree and cut a branch. They come with the branch and

leave it at the door of the house.Christmas day in Serbia is celebrated on January 7 each year.

44

The example above stems from the point of view of cultural practices. Regarding the

living standards, in my opinion, the U.S. – Mexico Border’s living standards are better than

living standards in the Serbia – Romania border region. People have a better quality of life,

which offers a multicultural overview.

In conclusion, life in the Border States of America is more interesting because of their

mixed heritage, which tells its story by cultural practices that include various customs, health

care practices, food and clothing.

45

Bibliography

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