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Fugitive Landscapes: The Forgotten History of the U.S. Mexico Borderlands by Samuel Truett
In Fugitive Landscapes, Truett explored the natural spaces that both the United States and Mexico occupied and how they operated in an often contentious but also a symbiotic environment. In this work, Truett shows how the “electrification,” coming from the Industrial Revolution, led to the need for copper found in Sonora, helping to construct the border as a “new frontier” needing to be developed (4). Truett complicated this study by framing the history of this border as “forgotten,” arguing that people now take the defined border between the United States and Mexico for granted (5). This is supported by the nation-centered histories. Truett contends that both United States and Mexican history, as separate entities, only turned towards each other when Mexicans crossed the border and when the United States played a role in Mexican events, respectively (5). From past to present, Americans and Mexicans underwent a clear shift in attitudes towards each other, and this connection appears to be lost (6). Through his work, Truett illustrated how studying the borders can show how these powers were interwoven at one point and the current relationship between these two nations was not inevitable (8).
Truett was successful at demonstrating the various ways Mexicans and Americans connected in Sonora. They were able to do this by maintaining a fugitive landscape, or one that was mobile and flexible, continuing to exist by “eluding the scrutiny of empire and resisting incorporation” (18). The identity of people in the borderlands was in constant flux and thus people living in this space had to play by the a different set of rules. For example, the Jesuits, who were not given all their provisions by the Church, had to interact with the indigenous population whom they were trying to convert in order to survive (21-23). He gives much evidence for why these spaces were “fugative,” such as discussing the intermarriages between Americans and Mexicans resulting from American migration to Sonora (37). From Truett’s evidence, it is clear that the resources and commercial power resulting from copper was the driving force for this relationship and in helping to form these identities (68). It forced people, both Mexicans and Americans, to value the “dollar more, dominion less” (56). This led to a formation of a system that had to rely on custom and kinship ties, as was common in the area, instead of nation-driven policies which only further contributed to the fluidity of the space (86). Yet, he also demonstrates how white privilege still permeated this territory. He shows the disparity of the housing conditions and state of Mexican v. American encampments but also how even the price of beef afforded only Americans the best cuts due to their higher wages (112, 137). Throughout the book, he showed how Mexicans and Americans both interacted and transacted in this fluid space.
One of the most interesting components to Truett’s analysis was his ability to show how the borders was not just a space where Mexicans and Americans interacted for economic purposes. Although his focus was the relationships between people working in this area, he effectively highlighted how this was a contested space for others. Women were shown to be present in the borderlands but instead of feeling opportunity, they felt restriction due to the crime and gangs present (106). Truett also discusses how the Chinese and Mormons were both forced into these transnational spaces after they were excluded from the United States (125-126). In an interesting vignette, he portrays Emil (Emilio) Kosterlitzky as a man who can transcend both nations and be of value to both Americans and Mexicans (139-140). From this he offers complexity to the question: what does it mean to be a person living in a fugitive landscape and how does one identify in these spaces? He highlights how this can be complicated by your ethnicity, country of origin, religion and gender, as well as nationality.