Creating an Archive: Fronteriza Authors Writing Histories, Documenting U.S.-Mexico Border Militarization

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dc.contributor.advisorDe Los Reyes, Guillermo
dc.contributor.committeeMemberSisk, Christina L.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberSoliño, María Elena
dc.contributor.committeeMemberParkinson Zamora, Lois
dc.creatorAlvarez, Maira Elizabeth
dc.creator.orcid0000-0002-9519-2126
dc.date.accessioned2020-01-03T06:04:38Z
dc.date.available2020-01-03T06:04:38Z
dc.date.createdDecember 2019
dc.date.issued2019-12
dc.date.submittedDecember 2019
dc.date.updated2020-01-03T06:04:41Z
dc.description.abstractThis research stems from the idea that fronteriza authors, from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, record the development of militarization along the region through their literary production. I argue that their texts are embedded with historical references of policing, surveillance and policies woven either as memories, testimonies, personal and collective accounts, and primary sources that become alternative histories. With this in mind, I propose that the collection of fictional narratives I analyze construct a literary archive from a fronteriza lens that offers an insight into their communities, region, and resilience against border militarization that also contest historical erasure. Chapter One, “Revisiting the Past: Contesting a Mechanism of Militarization,” analyzes mechanisms of militarization performed by Texas Rangers and the Border Patrol to prove the presence of a border militarization during the nineteenth century through the analysis of Shame the Stars by Guadalupe García McCall, Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en La Frontera by Norma E. Cantú, and Callejón Sucre y otros relatos by Rosario Sanmiguel. As a result, three historical events emerged: The Plan de San Diego (1915), bath riots (1917), and the Mexican Repatriation (1920-1939) documented through memories, testimonies, and primary sources. Chapter Two, “Collective Memories: Documenting the Emergence of Militarization,” examines surveillance practices by Border Patrol agents to reveal an escalation of border militarization through the narratives of Norma E. Cantú, Rosario Sanmiguel, and Lucrecia Guerrero’s collection of short stories Chasing Shadows. Through memories and personal accounts fronterizas reveal the emergence of militarization woven in events such as Bracero Program (1942-1964), Operation Wetback (1954), and Operation Blockade (1993). Chapter Three, “A Record of Defiance: Challenging a Militarization System,” analyzes US policies that transformed the border into a hyper-surveillance region as recorded in the narratives of Delincuentos: historias del narcotráfico by Arminé Arjona. The narratives document through testimony, memory and personal accounts a history of marijuana policies embedded in the United States War on Drugs campaign, mass incarceration, and the beginning of major federal funding on the U.S.-Mexico border militarization. This work began with collections of short stories whose record of historical references confirmed the presence and evolution of a border militarization. As part of the development of this fronteriza literary archive, other fronteriza authors are to be incorporated as I intend to transfer my research into a digital humanities project for multiple publics to engage with the border region through fiction.
dc.description.departmentHispanic Studies, Department of
dc.format.digitalOriginborn digital
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/5655
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectBorder
dc.subjectFrontera
dc.subjectArchives
dc.subjectMilitarization
dc.subjectBorder Literature
dc.subjectLatinos
dc.subjectBorderlands
dc.subjectUnited States - Mexico
dc.subjectLiterature
dc.subjectFronteriza
dc.subjectAuthors
dc.subjectWriters
dc.titleCreating an Archive: Fronteriza Authors Writing Histories, Documenting U.S.-Mexico Border Militarization
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.genreThesis
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
thesis.degree.departmentHispanic Studies, Department of
thesis.degree.disciplineSpanish
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Houston
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

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