Border as a Factor of Mexican-American Identity

Abstract

The article explores the dynamics of the formation of Mexican-American identity since the end of the war between Mexico and the United States in 1848. The establishment of a new border between the two countries resulted in the leveling of the culture and traditions of those Mexicans who remained in the territories under the control of the new government. Gradual and coercive state policies against locals who tried to preserve not only their ranches and material possessions but also their spiritual practices, caused a situation of forced historical amnesia. New waves of migration, caused by complex political and economic conditions in Mexico, had a significant impact on both those Mexicans who had long lived on ethnic lands and the migrants themselves, who were forced to assimilate and live according to the laws of the “white world”. It was only in the mid-20th century that the radicalization of the Chicano political movement sparked the beginning of a reconsideration of the identity of Americans of Mexican origin. The border, as a dividing line, not only separates two countries but also splits the inner world of the Mexicans who live in the United States, signifying their border state, belonging to two worlds, two cultures, and two ways of being.