Suzanna Melendez<\/p>\n
Blog Post #3<\/p>\n
10\/3\/16<\/p>\n
In Samuel Truett\u2019s Fugitive Landscapes: The Forgotten History of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands <\/em>it explores the indigenous, economic, labor, and corporate history throughout the southwest. Truett skillfully utilized the methodological approach of boarderland studies between the United States and Mexico in the 19th<\/sup> century. Some of the sources utilized in his narrative were government documents, corporate annual reports, manuscripts, dissertations and theses.\u00a0As a historian, Truett offered a unique perspective about Mexico\u2019s far northern frontier colliding with the U.S Western frontier. He argued that the U.S. and Mexico\u2019s history collides and intermingles with one another which is a topic in history overlooked by scholars. Furthermore, he argued that Americans and Mexicans joined forces to promote modern economic development in order to transform the U.S.-Mexican borderlands. By investigating the forgotten history of the U.S.-Mexico boarderlands, Truett seeks to utilize history to reconnect both nations past.<\/p>\n Truett and Pekka Hamalainen Comache<\/em> Empire<\/em> have provided me with a new perspective about the frontier. dshanebeck<\/a> wrote in his blog that \u201cTruett\u2019s central argument is that the borderlands are not divided as neatly and cleanly as modern Americans or historians would like. Often, historians want a clean story that changes as people shift and identities solidify.\u201d I would agree with dshanebeck<\/a>\u2019s analysis because the concept of a frontier has transformed in modern historical scholarship. Previous historians such as Fredrick Jackson Turner provided a binary line between civilization and savagery. On the contrary, Hamalaine argues that \u201c\u2026 historians have reenvisioned the frontier as a socially charged space where Indians and invaders completed for resources and the land but also shared skills, foods, fashions, customs, languages and beliefs.\u201d (Hamalainen 7) Aside from Truett highlighting economic interests from corporations and entrepreneurs, the text also explores how ordinary natives resisted these powerful and influential empires. Prior to reading Fugitive Landscapes, <\/em>I knew very little about the U.S. and Mexico during the 1800s. Not only does his book provide a historical context for the reader but it also incorporates women and people of various ethnic backgrounds.<\/p>\n