Alienated Borderlands

Great Essays
Additionally, because borders have a distinct historical background, it eventually affects the social, economic, and political realities of the borderland and determines the interaction between the border people. As different interactions happened in the borderlands compare to the other regions in both countries, certain levels of interactions inevitably make distinctions as Martínez (6-9) briefly categorizes the borderlands into four groups, namely:
1. Alienated borderlands
In this type of borderland, interaction does not exist or it is prohibited because of “severe tensions between the adjacent states and/or border populations” (Cassarino 4). “Border is functionally closed, and cross-border interaction is totally or almost totally absent.
…show more content…
Integrated borderlands
In integrated borderlands, there are no barriers, which can hinder the flow of goods or people. This kind of borderland is very stable where “the economies of the two (or more) countries are functionally merged, and there is unrestricted movement of people and goods across the boundary” (Martínez 7). Integrated borders exist in countries that are part of the Schengen area for example (Cassarino 4). This particular typology can help people to scrutinize the dynamic borderlands by observing what kind of interactions exist in that area. The categorization is also beneficial to investigate borderlands’ historical development. The U.S.-Mexico border, for example, has gone through different stages where it began the first stage as the alienated borderland in the period of 1560s-1880. Then it developed to be a coexistent borderland during 1880-1920. Finally, from 1920 to present, the U.S.-Mexico border turned to be an interdependent borderland with some major developments namely “the border rectification agreements; water treaties; the Chamizal settlement; expansion of border trade, industrialization, tourism, and migration; extraordinary population and urban growth” (Martínez
…show more content…
Not only full of risk to be deported, such journey could also take people’s lives. Sin Nombre clearly pictures how the journey into the North is very risky (including the threats from the local gangs and bad coyotes) and dangerous where people’s lives become so vulnerable. Not only having the difficulties of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, this film does illustrate the danger of crossing the Mexico border (the protagonist in Sin Nombre starts travelling from Honduras). Such illustration is portrayed in the novels such as Luis Alberto Urrea’s into the Beautiful North, Mario Ben Castro’s Odyssey to the North, and Sonia Nazario’s Enrique’s Journey. In real life experiences, Maid in America and Maria in Nobody’s Land documentaries are more than enough to give a clear picture on how illegal border crossing could be. Nazario’s Enrique’s Journey, a recount story of a Honduran boy who is crossing borders (Honduras-Guatemala, Guatemala-Mexico, and Mexico-U.S.) in search of his mother is best to elucidate the praxy of border crossing. The journey Nazario narrates is akin to what Sin Nombre illustrates. Aforementioned in the introduction, once people succeed in crossing the physical borders, another border awaits, the unseen borders (see page 6-9). For the immigrants, the difficulties coping with the American mainstream is what keeping their immigrant

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    The journey of immigrants is one that has become a controversial topic recently. It is a topic that is receiving mass amounts of media coverage lately in the United States. No other journalist has taken the extreme measures that Sonia Nazario has, in order for her to write Enrique’s Journey. Sonia Nazario reproduces the extensive journey taken by Enrique in order to reunite with his mother in the United States. Enrique, the protagonist of her novel, faces many difficulties over his 1,200-mile journey.…

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Enrique’s Journey illustrates a strong argument on the issue of immigration that is cleverly hidden in the binding of the narrative novel. In effect, Sonia Nazario is able to extend her arguments with a higher degree of success by appealing to emotion more so than logic. Her use of pathos significantly outweighs any arguments grounded on logic, therefore she inherently establishes a persuasive text that encourages the audience to avoid objectivity and read the book through a lens of emotion. More so, the humanization of the issue of immigration by establishing empathy with Enrique and the various sub-narratives in the book add to the emphasis placed on creating a persuasive text rather than a balanced and informative nonfiction book. Photography…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1) Is current immigration policy seriously treated as a national security issue? How was it treated prior to 9/11? Borders were not controlled very well until recently explains Andreas (2009). People that wanted to cross borders illegally were able to cross easier since it was not a major problem at the time.…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although the majority of the afflicted during the Salem Witch Trials were women, some historians believe that the men of the village were the true driving force behind the trials. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum are two such people, and in their book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins Of Witchcraft, they write about their discoveries concerning the long standing economic and political issues underlying the trials in Salem. Within their work, they split the citizens of Salem into two separate factions: those who wanted autonomy of Salem Village, led by the Putnam family, and those who were more interested in Salem Town, led by the Porters. At the most basic level, the feud starts with the tangible divide of land borders between the village…

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A border can be revealed not only in a geographic sense but can be seen as an obscurity between two individuals in a relationship. In the short story “Borders,” Thomas King narrates in relation to his childhood experiences, and explores the nexus between borders, the mother-daughter relationship, and their identities. As a Blackfoot Native American woman, the mother sees a border as arbitrary, as her ancestors once had no geographic borders. On the other hand, her daughter Laetitia, has a much less traditional view of the world, and her identity is shaped around her modern interpretation of the world. Therefore, this demonstrates a border that is present between the two individuals and also a figurative border between today’s society and minority groups such as the Blackfoot people.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    It is hard to give an exact explanation of what is border imperialism as each person experiences in a different way. As a born and raised Salvadorian I can argue that Border Imperialism is an idea that functions by the hand of capitalism in which migrants are used as cheap labor to create capital flows and ensure a dominant global economic system. Because migrants strive to have better opportunities in first world countries, they suffer displacements and suppression from a system that is designed to target all those who are consider “aliens” or illegal. As Harsha Walia states in her book, “Border Imperialism is characterized by the entrenchment and reentrenchment of controls against migrants, who are displaced as a result of the violence of capitalism and empire, and subsequently forced into precarious labor as a result of state illegalization and systematic social hierarchies” (38)1 . Therefore, borders are not meant to stop immigrants, they are symbol created by our oppressive system that punish them for economic advantage, even though they have constructed and exploit human and natural resources to provide wealth in first world…

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How does the way we use borders affect our lives in the world today and the lives of those around us? Living in a world that has so many borders, physical, social, political, and mental forces us to choose between building borders up—causing conflict—or, tearing them down—bringing peace—to one another. How do we understand them so we can better navigate the roles they play in our lives? Looking at borders inside and out we are, in a way, a sort of gatekeeper for all of the borders we experience. Acknowledging our role as gatekeepers brings into focus the choices we, as humans, need to make about what is important versus what is not concerning the various borders in our lives.…

    • 1693 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Anzaldúa explains the unnaturalness of the man-made border between Mexico and Texas. This physical, dividing line between two countries separates two distinct cultures. She connects the physical nature of the borders to her previous poem, which personifies the…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The balkanization that caused Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union to break up is caused by Nationalism and the different ethnicities that existed within Austria-Hungary and then Yugoslavia later. Austria-Hungary's primary culture was Austrian, part of the German Cultural branch, yet most of the empire was Slavic Balkan. The breakup of Austria-Hungary created Yugoslavia, and while the ethnicities were part of the same cultural group, the different ethnicities trying to gain power would lead to its breakup as well. Even in 2018 the process seems to still be occurring despite the decline of Nationalism. Currently, in Europe, the most visible signs of a friction between ethnicities is in Spain, where people are trying to break off from Spain forming…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Assignment 7.04 A. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is a superimposed boundary. This is because this type of boundary is drawn by a third party. Meaning that third parties of that country has affected some part of how the boundary existed. The boundary between these two countries cam e to be because both felt that one had more power than the other due to ethnic groups.…

    • 117 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) Wrongdoing Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is an arrangement of plan standards used to debilitate wrongdoing. The idea is straightforward: Buildings and properties are intended to keep harm from the power of the components and catastrophic events; they ought to likewise be intended to forestall wrongdoing. CPTED standards depend on suspecting the manners of thinking of a potential guilty party and making a situation that demoralizes complete. CPTED has the additional preferred standpoint of making a conviction that all is good and prosperity among representatives and occupants.…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tim Marshall’s main focus in writing the book, “Prisoners of Geography” is to introduce the concept of geopolitics. He explains how the location and certain geographical features affect politics, especially international relationships. To further elaborate on this topic he includes historical examples to show how the geography affects trade, conflict, and a countries’ economy. Seeing that there are 195 countries in the world and over 4,000 religions, conflict is bound to break out sometime. That is a given.…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The securitization of migration is a field of intense controversy both in terms of academic debate and also in terms of the policy making. The reason lies in the great political and ethical dilemmas that arise from the promotion of migration as a contemporary security threat. At the European Union level, migration has become increasingly securitized since the 1980s, and was seen first and foremost as a threat to national identity. In contrast, the securitization of migration in the United States took place in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, where terrorism became the bases for framing the groundwork for securitizing discourses and practices relative to migration.…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Amazon Research Paper

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Has big data improved amazon as a company Introduction This research paper will focus on answering the question “ Has big data improved amazon as a company?” The objectives of this assignment is to examine why the timeline of amazon is relevant to big data. An additional objective is to explore whether amazon have met the needs of its customers through e-commerce and whether the technology in place can be deemed beneficial to the company. An additional objective is to determine if any ethical or security issues are involved.…

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Transnational Crime Essay

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As an effect of globalization, today states are increasingly faced crimes which crossed national borders. Thus, more and extra international cooperation is an essential component of criminal investigation or prosecutions. Since criminal activities go beyond the national borders, it is clear that the international community has recognized the need for enhancing cooperation, particularly with respect to gathering evidence located outside national state borders. Officially demarcated borders cannot keep out transnational threats and such threats have not yet addressed because of some obstacles including mistrust and lack of regional cooperation. In an increasingly interconnected world, security issues are transnational and cannot be addressed…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays