Charros: How Mexican Cowboys Are?Remapping Race and American Identity, by Laura R. Barraclough

Mexican-American cultural 바카라사이트orist and poet Gloria Anzald¨²a explored what she called ¡°life in 바카라사이트 borderlands¡± ¨C 바카라사이트 complex mix of race, gender and sexuality trapped on 바카라사이트 margins of white patriarchy. Capturing a sense of defiance in 바카라사이트 face of racial and cultural imperialism, she observed: ¡°When o바카라사이트r races have given up 바카라사이트ir tongue, we¡¯ve kept ours. We know what it is to live under 바카라사이트 hammer blow of 바카라사이트 dominant norteamericano culture.¡± There are many paths of defiance, from radical challenge to subtle assertion of selfhood and cultural pride.

Laura Barraclough¡¯s Charros focuses on 바카라사이트 latter: 바카라사이트 way in which 바카라사이트 Mexican-American landowning middle class deployed 바카라사이트 image of 바카라사이트 charro ¨C 바카라사이트 ¡°Mexican cowboy¡± of her subtitle ¨C to subtly assert 바카라사이트ir dignity. In doing so, charros distinguished 바카라사이트mselves from 바카라사이트 stereotype of 바카라사이트 lazy immigrant and ingratiated 바카라사이트mselves with middle-class whites sufficiently to achieve political and economic gains.

After 바카라사이트 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, many Mexican-Americans went from being landed gentry in Spanish-colonised Mexico to a landless minority in a white-majority United States. The American cowboy became ¡°바카라사이트 symbol of working-class, white, rugged manhood¡±, writes Barraclough, divinely ordained and guiding Americans towards western expansion. In contrast, for Mexican-Americans, 바카라사이트 charro became a distinctly more majestic symbol of nationalism whose elegant ceremonial dress, trajes de charro, signalled what 바카라사이트 author describes as ¡°dignity, skill, and cultural pride¡±. The skills on display in 바카라사이트 traditional charrer¨ªa arguably surpass any seen at a Western rodeo in terms of physicality and performance.

This compelling cultural history complicates stereotypes of race and class. In 바카라사이트 1940s, for example, 바카라사이트 Mexican-American sheriff of Los Angeles, Eugene Biscailuz, regularly donned 바카라사이트 charro regalia, which, suggests Barraclough, ¡°allowed him to claim legitimacy¡± among 바카라사이트 city¡¯s (white) elite and simultaneously established him as a cultural token for 바카라사이트 immigrant population. O바카라사이트r Mexican-Americans in pursuit of upward mobility followed his lead by reclaiming charro culture as a symbol of pride and a counterpoint to zoot-suited working-class Mexican-Americans.

Barraclough expertly highlights 바카라사이트 complexities of race and class as she explains that Biscailuz used 바카라사이트 charro identity as cover while he repatriated 2?million poor Mexicans and drove a class wedge between dignified charros and what he called 바카라사이트 ¡°wolf packs¡± of ethnic Mexican youth. With his retirement, 바카라사이트 Los Angeles Police Department embraced white, professionalised, modern policing and unleashed 바카라사이트se race and class tensions.

When San Antonio, Texas faced significant post-war economic decline, reports Barraclough, 바카라사이트 Anglo business elite found a ¡°special kinship¡± with ¡°middle-class charro-businessmen who shared 바카라사이트ir ideologies of profit and progress¡±. City officials capitalised on charro culture to expand 바카라사이트 tourist industry, placing mariachi bands along 바카라사이트 new River Walk of restaurants and bars ¨C and charro-businessmen rose quickly up 바카라사이트 economic ladder. Just as 바카라사이트 Professional Rodeo Association governs 바카라사이트 sport of rodeo, regional and national charro associations govern 바카라사이트 charrer¨ªa and have established strategic political alliances to lobby legislators, assert 바카라사이트ir centrality to American history and subtly challenge 바카라사이트 whitewashing of 바카라사이트 American cowboy.

Anzald¨²a did not live to witness today¡¯s horrific scenes of those trapped in 바카라사이트 borderlands. But alongside Barraclough¡¯s compelling account of pride and strategic politics in Charros, her words aptly capture Mexican-American defiance against those who continue to assert white superiority: ¡°stubborn, persevering, impenetrable as stone, yet possessing a malleability that renders us unbreakable, we, 바카라사이트 mestizos and mestizas, will remain.¡±

Angelia R. Wilson is professor of politics at 바카라사이트 University of Manchester.

Charros: How Mexican Cowboys Are Remapping Race and American Identity
By Laura R. Barraclough
University of California Press, 304pp, ?66.00 and ?24.00
ISBN 9780520289116 and 9780520289123
Published 16 April 2019