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Editorial Review Product Description
"This book demonstrates the richness of the interethnicmosaic characterizing the Valley of South Texas. . . . By giving voice tolocal residents, Professor Richardson has amassed a valuable stock of knowledgeconcerning life along the Texas-Mexican border that is sorely missingin the extant literature."--Rogelio Saenz, Professor and Head of Sociology,Texas A&M University "The Valley of South Texas," a recent joke goes, "is agreat place to live. It's so close to the United States." Culturally,this borderland region is both Mexican and Anglo-American, and its peoplespan the full spectrum, from a minority who wish to remain insulated withinstrictly Anglo or Mexican communities and traditions to a majority who dailynegotiate both worlds.This fascinating book offers the fullest portrait currently availableof the people of the South Texas borderlands. An outgrowth of the BorderlifeResearch Project conducted at the University of Texas-Pan American,it uses the voices of several hundred Valley residents, backed by the findingsof sociological surveys, to describe the lives of migrant farm workers,colonia residents, undocumented domestic servants, maquila workers, andMexican street children. Likewise, it explores race and ethnic relationsamong Mexican Americans, permanent Anglo residents, "Winter Texans,"Blacks, and Mexican immigrants. From this firsthand material, the book vividlyreveals how social class, race, and ethnicity have interacted to form aunique border culture. ... Read more Customer Reviews (5) 
Great
Fast and in excellent condition as published. Actually rec. book within a couple of days.
Just like it is...
This is a great book that tells it like it is.It describes the lives of many of us in South Texas.
Interesting book, but lacks engaging analysis
This book is a bit of a puzzle. I'm not sure if its purpose is to go beyond mere description in dealing with the "batos, bolillos, pochos and pelados" of its title. The author does do a good job of decribing the various socioeconomic relationships that exist within and between various population groups in the Rio Grande. He does this with the aid of various interviews and surveys performed by the Borderlife Project at UT-Pan Am. There are excellent summaries of the data from these surveys, and some attempt is made at explaining some of the results. But the whole book is too shallow to function as a critical work, and I'm not sure if it was the author's intent to leave the analysis at a minimum or not. (I know it would have made for a larger book). An example: the book designates "Anglo" as one of the cultural/socioeconomic groups in the Valley, and yet nothing in the book really examines what the term might mean or refer to. When Mexican immigrants were surveyed and interviewed for the Borderlife project, were they using "Anglo" in the same senses? Is there a difference between "Anglo" and "White" or do the two terms refer to the same thing? These questions are never cleared up, even though a proper analysis of the surveys would seem to require just this kind of clarification. This seems to me a critical failing of the book. Another salient failing is the fact that the book doesn't account for the fact that not all immigrants or people of Hispanic origin in the Valley are Mexican. Many are from Latin American countries other than Mexico. Richardson makes no effort to discuss the differences in culture and socioeconomic status between these groups (e.g., Nicaraguans, Colombians) and the other groups (Mexicans, Anglos, etc.), even though he does spend some time discussing a black population that is arguably less important. There are many more examples like this, but the point is that the book fails to engage in any serious analysis of the interview and survey materials. This is disappointing, especially considering the high quality of the student-led interviews.
Real Life On the Border of South Texas
Many an anthropologist and sociologist has described SouthTexas borderlife along with all its cultural nuances, customs, and practices. Dr. Chad Richardson is the most recent social scientist to take on this challengingtask and none has done it better. This book is filled with stories ofcultural conflicts, clashes, and mutual cooperation among the variousinhabitants of this historically significant and culturally rich region.The cultural confluences of this region are among the strongest and mostpotent of any multicultural mecca in the world. The region and its peopleplay out the conflicts of two vastly important and different cultures,embedded in economic, power and class struggles for survival. Among thethird world colonias, the numerous 'Winter Texan' gated-communities, andthe exponential growth of 'macquiladoras,' can be heard the loud suckingsound of NAFTA accompanied by the cries of 'La LLorna.' The region and itspeople have never been so well documented. Dr. Richardson's observationsare based on empirical studies and surveys, richly supported byethnographic histories collected from archives and interviews with hundredsof families over several generations of Mexican, Mexican American andEuropean Americans who have lived, worked, and invested together to makethis region a powerful force for the future of America. This book tells the'true' story of South Texas. Dr. Richarson doesn't hide anything. He tellsit like it was, and how it continues to be, for an important, fast growing, often overlooked, underestimated, and often wrongly stereotyped, minoritypopulation. His science represents years of work. His product is mostimpressive, despite an unfortunate title.
Real Life On the Border of South Texas
Many an anthropologist and sociologist has described SouthTexas borderlife along with all its cultural nuances, customs, and practices. Dr. Chad Richardson is the most recent social scientist to take on this challengingtask and none has done it better. This book is filled with stories ofcultural conflicts, clashes, and mutual cooperation among the variousinhabitants of this historically significant and culturally rich region.The cultural confluences of this region are among the strongest and mostpotent of any multicultural mecca in the world. The region and its peopleplay out the conflicts of two vastly important and different cultures,embedded in economic, power and class struggles for survival. Among thethird world colonias, the numerous 'Winter Texan' gated-communities, andthe exponential growth of 'macquiladoras,' can be heard the loud suckingsound of NAFTA accompanied by the cries of 'La LLorna.' The region and itspeople have never been so well documented. Dr. Richardson's observationsare based on empirical studies and surveys, richly supported byethnographic histories collected from archives and interviews with hundredsof families over several generations of Mexican, Mexican American andEuropean Americans who have lived, worked, and invested together to makethis region a powerful force for the future of America. This book tells the'true' story of South Texas. Dr. Richarson doesn't hide anything. He tellsit like it was, and how it continues to be, for an important, fast growing, often overlooked, underestimated, and often wrongly stereotyped, minoritypopulation. His science represents years of work. His product is mostimpressive, despite an unfortunate title.
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