The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003 Page: 655
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Book Reviews
historian Virginia Scharff, as well as less familiar writers, journalists, and profes-
sors. Since the views expressed are contemporary, the Reader should be used with
a more comprehensive text.
The collection also includes an appropriate sample of ethnic and regional
perspectives. Native American views receive the most attention with not only a
separate section that features Pueblo and Navajo perspectives, but also appropri-
ate insertion throughout other sections such as a discussion of Hopi Indian cere-
monies, a naturalist account of the Papago being separated by the boundary
with Mexico, and an interesting essay on Radmilla Cody, Miss Navajo Nation for
1998, the daughter of a Navajo mother and an African American father. New
Mexico's Spanish-speaking people, the Hispanos, also receive substantial consid-
eration in a section on "Hispano-Mestizo Mexico," as well as in other essays such
as Edward Paz-Martinez's "Romancing Mora" and Rudolfo Anaya's "Mythical Di-
mensions/Political Reality."
The Reader is selective with respect to its definition of the Southwest, its rep-
resentation of different perspectives, and its historical perspective and selection
of contemporary themes. The authors do offer several definitions of the South-
west from geographer D. W. Meinig's inclusion of only the area from the Rio
Grande to the Gila River, omitting Texas and California, as well as Oklahoma,
Colorado, and Utah to historian John Chavez who offers a Chicano perspective
of "lost homeland," or all territory lost by Mexico to the United States in 1848.
They raise the issue of an inclusive perspective that recognizes that although
geography, the Indios, and history have shaped the region there is a dynamic
of continuing historical change that should be recognized. Texas and Califor-
nia moved dramatically away from their Spanish-Indio origins with the U.S.
conquest but the 2002 census confirms the resurgence of everything Spanish
except pennsulares in the Southwest borderlands. The relative exclusion of
Texas and California from the selections-there is one essay on the Tonkawa
tribe from Central Texas living in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, and the "MexAmerica"
essay discusses the emergence of Chicano Park on Coronado island in San
Diego-not only limits the usefulness of the Reader to students in these areas
but also understates the evolving population shifts and urbanization of the
Southwest. How reliable is Meinig's definition of the Southwest when Los Ange-
les has the largest population of Indios living outside the reservations of the
Southwest and the largest urban population of Mexicans outside of Mexico
City? Finally, more recent migrants and immigrants to the Southwest, such as
blacks and Asians, receive relatively little attention compared to Hispanos and
Indios. Anglos receive mostly indirect attention with the exception of historian
Virginia Scharff's essay on migrating to the University of New Mexico, an essay
on the New Age in Sedona, Arizona, and an article on the impact of Intel's
computer chip manufacturing plant on the Albuquerque water supply. These
questions and the essays should stimulate class discussions, a central objective
of the Reader.California State Unzverszty
655
2003
Thomas R. Maddux
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003, periodical, 2003; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101223/m1/733/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.