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4. Living at a Slant in the Midst of Megascripts in the Transborder Southwest North American Region: Dos mujeres sin fin
- University of Arizona Press
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4 Living at a Slant in the Midst of Megascripts in the Transborder Southwest North American Region Dos mujeres sin fin There can be no doubt that the spread of rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) are the local and transborder expression of much larger economic, demographic, social, material, and political processes in the transborder region and the Southwest North American Region, as I postulated in chapter 1. However, a number of important dynamic economic and demographic processes support this even more, including: • In 2009, there were an average of of 722,000 (24 million per month) passenger crossings per day at the 35 points of entry on the 1,952mile border between the United States and Mexico, and the United States issued 906,622 nonimmigrant visas for Mexicans in fiscal year (FY) 2005. In addition, 732,566 laser visas (which replaced the old border crossing cards for those who live on the Mexican side of the border but work in the United States) were issued in FY 2005, down from 1,990,402 in FY 2001.1 As of 2009, the estimated unauthorized population in the United States was 11.9 million, of which 4.5 to 6 million entered legally with inspection and 6 to 7 million entered illegally without inspection.2 Of the total 11.9 million, 59 percent were of Mexican origin.3 • Approximately 60 percent of the 500 million visitors admitted into the United States enter across the U.S.–Mexico border, as do 90 million cars and 4.3 million trucks annually, all contributing to the $638 million in trade conducted at the border with Mexico every single day.4 • There is a massive regional economic movement from the central and southern parts of Mexico to the northern border areas (fig. 4.1), which has led to an economic and demographic explosion in the U.S. border states.5 • The Mexicanization of former Anglo towns, and the creation of Mexican rural population settlements in vacant lands in the United States, termed “colonias,” are now home to hundreds of thousands of people, 97 percent of whom are of Mexican origin (see fig. 4.2).6 Mexico: regional growth 1970–1985 Mexico: regional growth 1985–2001 Mexico growth rate by states 0.717–1.335 1.335–1.837 1.837–2.424 2.424–3.408 3.408–16.580 Mexico growth rate by states -7.293– -0.432 -0.432–0.689 0.689–1.217 1.217–1.818 1.818–3.428 Figure 4.1 Mexican regional growth, 1970–2001. Source: Gilmer 2006. CA AZ NM TX Colonias are rural communities and neighborhoods located within 150 miles of the U.S.–Mexico border that lack adequate infrastructure and frequently also lack other basic services. Counties that contain colonias Non-colonias counties Figure 4.2 Location of colonias along the U.S.–Mexico border. Source: Galan 2000b. [3.89.163.120] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 02:49 GMT) 122 Chapter 4 When these figures are coupled with almost $200 billion in imports into the United States and almost $137 billion in exports to Mexico, then the old adage of “follow the money” easily explains how transborder labor markets can be created along with a type of regional centrality, especially for Mexico.7 RegardingtheSouthwestNorthAmericanRegion,Iwouldsuggestthat we can no longer consider the border to be a place to cross, or merely a “border.” Rather, the U.S.–Mexico border region has become the central axis and node for trade, commerce, population crossing and re-crossing, linguistic experimentation, institutional development, academic interest , population settlement, class creations and divisions, and cultural emergence and conflict. In this lie the great contradictions of citizenship, unitary cultural identity, and “one-nation and one-culture” premises. In a peculiar sense, the “border” has become the center from which populations and material travel throughout both nations to peripheral locations in the Southwest North American Region, the East Coast, the Deep South, and the Midwest. This is, however, a subject for another book, but suffice it to say that the regional importance of the Southwest North American Region as a center will continue in spite of 9/11. Economic and cultural practices like ROSCAs are emblematic of the “diaspora” of economy and polity throughout the Southwest North American Region and its creation as an important center of influence and expansion that radiates out. The border region center is a persistent and dynamic presence that is characterized as a “transnational...