THE MEXICAN US BORDER - THE MAKING OF AN ANTHROPOLOGY OF BORDERLANDS

This review traces the development of an anthropology of borderlands. The ideas of early ethnography and applied anthropology about border r egions are considered along with contemporary perspectives on reterrit orialized communities and practices illustrated specifically by Mexica n migration and transborder processes. The argument is made that the c onceptual parameters of borderlands, borders, and their crossings, ste mming from work done on the Mexican-US border, in particular, illustra te the contradiction, paradox, difference, and conflict of power and d omination in contemporary global capitalism and the nation-state, espe cially as manifested in local-level practices. Furthermore, the border lands genre is a basis upon which to redraw our conceptual frameworks of community and culture area.