ISBN:
978-1-4773-2144-7 (paperback)
,
978-1-4773-2143-0 (cloth)
,
978-1-4773-2145-4 (ebook)
,
978-1-4773-2146-1 (ebook other)
Language:
English
Pages:
199 Seiten
,
Illustrationen
Edition:
First edition
Series Statement:
Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life and Culture number 49
Keywords:
Mexiko USA
;
Texas
;
Fest
;
Ritual und Zeremonie
;
Anthropologie, politische
;
Laredo (Stadt, USA, Texas)
;
Nuevo Laredo (Stadt, Mexiko)
Abstract:
Since 1898, residents of Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, have reached across the US-Mexico border to celebrate George Washington's birthday. The celebration can last a whole month, with parade goers reveling in American and Mexican symbols; George Washington saluting; and Pocahontas; riding on horseback. An international bridge ceremony, the heart and soul of the festivities, features children from both sides of the border marching toward each other to link the cities with an embrace. ¡Viva George! offers an ethnography and a history of this celebration, which emerges as both symbol and substance of cross-border community life. Anthropologist and Laredo native Elaine A. Peña shows how generations of border officials, civil society organizers, and everyday people have used the bridge ritual to protect shared economic and security interests as well as negotiate tensions amid natural disasters, drug-war violence, and immigration debates.Drawing on previously unknown sources and extensive fieldwork, finds that border enactments like Washington's birthday are more than goodwill gestures. From the Rio Grande to the 38th Parallel, they do the meaningful political work that partisan polemics cannot. (Umschlagtext)
Description / Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments -- Introduction: From Border Capricho to Border Scaffolding -- Part I. Playing for Power -- 1. Playing Indian, Playing Colonial -- 2. Playing Mexican -- Part II. Playing under Duress -- 3. Hurricane Alice and the International Bridge Closure Crisis -- 4. Paso Libre -- 5. Us, Them, and Festive Security -- Conclusion. Why Study Border Enactments? -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.
Note:
Literaturverzeichnis: Seite [175]-190
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