Border Fictions: Globalization, Empire, and Writing at the Boundaries of the United States (review)

As interest in the field of border studies grows, there is a need for succinct, teachable texts that can be used to shape courses. Indeed, for those looking to develop a literature course that analyzes the impact and influence of borders, Border Fictions is an excellent choice. This text is also highly useful for scholars who are interested in learning more about this growing field and how its methodologies and insights might prove useful in their own work. Border Fictions is on the cutting edge of the field and is (to my knowledge) the first text that compares and contrasts multiethnic and transnational cultural representations in fiction about the U.S. borders while placing the literatures within their social and political contexts. In Border Fictions, Claudia Sadowski-Smith proposes a new model of inter-American studies utilizing fiction and theories of globalization. Each chapter examines a range of fiction, by both well-known and lesser-known authors, including novels, short story collections, autobiographies, and plays, and places the pieces within their respective historical and political contexts. Sadowski-Smith also puts the pieces in dialogue with each other, establishing valuable connections as well as important distinctions. She emphasizes a hemispheric orientation, focusing on two specific manifestations of empire—free trade and the increased militarization of the U.S. border.

In the useful introduction, Sadowski-Smith describes the methodological concentration of the text:

Border Fictions suggests an alternative inter-American framework that focuses on North American borders and that places into dialogue hemispheric approaches to these geographies from Chicana/o, Asian American, American Indian, Latin American, and Canadian studies. Such a model shifts the focus in humanities-based border studies from a particular ethnic group, its critique of exclusive notions of U.S. citizenship, and its connections to Latin America, to a spatialized perspective that acknowledges the internal diversity of border areas and its linkage to theories of nationalism and U.S. imperialism.

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She is careful to note that while she proposes the bridging of academic disciplines, such collaborations and connections need not lead to the weakening of individual ethnic studies departments or the creation of inter-American programs. She envisions interdisciplinary partnerships that would encourage new forms of academic inquiry. While acknowledging that this study is limited to texts either written in or translated into English, Sadowski-Smith notes that work in inter-American studies could be developed in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Indigenous languages, and the many other languages of the Americas.

The first chapter, “Chicana/o Writing and the U.S.-Mexico Border,” delineates the historical tradition of Chicana/o literature that develops the international boundary between the United States and Mexico as an explicit setting and theme. As a means to set the stage for comparison, Sadowski-Smith traces the themes of borderlands/ la frontera and Aztlan in the work of many authors including Ito Romo, Miguel Méndez, Gloria Anzaldúa, Sandra Cisneros, and Lucrecia Guerrero. In doing so, she places Chicana/o and Latina/o studies at the intersection from which other literatures may be connected in an inter-American studies framework.

In chapter 2, “Asian Border Crossings,” Sadowski-Smith examines representations of “undocumented” Asian im/migrations throughout the Northern Hemisphere. She focuses on the overlooked early work of Edith Maude Eaton (Sui Sin Far), which is set in Canada and depicts the first-known fictional representation of a character to cross the U.S.-Canada border. She also examines Karen Tei Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange for similarities in the experiences of Asians and Latinas/os with U.S. expressions of empire. Sadowski-Smith demonstrates that the works of both authors reveal important intersections among Asian American, Chicana/o, and inter-American studies.

Chapter 3, “Native Border Theory,” explores Indigenous perspectives on the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders through the...