Interdisciplinary Research

In Gloria Anzaldua's excerpt Borderlands/La Frontera, she comes across an issue with Mexicans and the U.S Mexican border. Mexicans and others are considered inhabitants because of this imaginary borderland. This line is known to separate the "safe and unsafe" places. Gloria stated in this excerpt that "the only "legitimate" inhabitants are those in power, the whites and those who align themselves with the whites". Because of this, Mexicans and others considered the whites to be "normal" therefore most of these Mexicans immigrated to the United States just to get a feeling of what its like to be considered an American, normal and to have "power". The fact that these people would do anything to fit into this type of norm even if it meant leaving there own country goes to show how being labeled can either make you or break you. In the book, Border People: Life and Society in the U.S-Mexico Borderlands by Oscar Martinez, borderlanders live in a unique human environment shaped by physical distance from central areas and constant exposure to transnational processes. Borderlanders are singular in their history, outlook, behavior and their lifestyles deviates from the norms of central Mexico and the interior United States.

Works Cited:

Martínez, Oscar J. Border People: Life and Society in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. Tucson: University of Arizona, 1994. Print.