Raid and Reconciliation

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Brandon Morgan examines the story of Pancho Villa’s 1916 raid on Columbus, New Mexico, providing new insights into the Mexican Revolution and the connections between violence and modernization.

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Institution: Central New Mexico Community College

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Brandon Morgan examines the story of Pancho Villa’s 1916 raid on Columbus, New Mexico, providing new insights into the Mexican Revolution and the connections between violence and modernization.

Image courtesy of interviewee. August 29, 2024

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In this discussion, Brandon shares insights about his book, which originated from his doctoral dissertation in Borderlands history at the University of New Mexico, defended in 2013. His motivation was to detail the often-overlooked history of a specific section of the US-Mexico border, particularly in the context of events like Pancho Villa's 1916 attack. The book aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the area's historical significance, linking early conflicts, such as the Apache Wars, to modern development efforts influenced by capitalism from both the US and Mexico.

Brandon emphasizes the importance of archival research across multiple locations including New Mexico and Mexico City, which shaped his manuscript's evolution. He explains how modernization initiatives in the late 19th and early 20th centuries affected local communities and reframed the narratives around them, particularly regarding race and identity.

He also contextualizes Villa's actions within broader territorial and economic dynamics, showing how the border has historically been a site of both conflict and cooperation. Brandon hopes readers gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of border life and recognize that, despite historical violence, many people's daily experiences on the border are not defined by it, fostering a richer perspective on national identities and relationships between the US and Mexico.

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Here are five key points from the video:

1. **Historical Convideo of the US-Mexico Border**: The speaker's research focuses on detailing the history of a relatively underexplored section of the US-Mexico border, emphasizing its marginalization in historical narratives, particularly in the convideo of the Mexican Revolution and US historical accounts.

2. **Archival Research Process**: The research involved extensive archival work across multiple locations, including New Mexico and Mexico City. The speaker utilized various archives to gather information on both sides of the border, which is crucial for understanding the historical dynamics in that area.

3. **Dialectic of Violence**: The speaker discusses a concept called the "dialectic of violence," which encapsulates the ongoing cycles of violence and conflict that have shaped the border region. This violence includes conflicts against Indigenous peoples (like the Apache), revolutionary raids, and the struggles of settlers adjusting to modernization.

4. **Modernization Efforts**: The study traces modernization efforts during the Gilded Age in the United States and the Porfirio Díaz regime in Mexico, focusing on the economic and social transformations that occurred in the border region and the impacts on local populations, including the marginalization of long-established communities.

5. **Rethinking Border Perceptions**: The speaker hopes the research will challenge misperceptions of the border as inherently violent and instead highlight the complex national identities and relationships between the US and Mexico, underscoring both conflict and cooperation in shaping this historically rich area.

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Here are some key quotes from the video that encapsulate its themes and insights:

1. **On the origins and purpose of the research**:
- "My motivation was to detail the history of a section of the US Mexico border that is often ignored."

2. **On the nature of the border's history**:
- "It's often seen as kind of marginal peripheral, even for, you know, an area that is marginal and peripheral unto itself."

3. **On the historical significance of the border**:
- "What I wanted to do is convideoualize that, um, so that it could be understood on its own terms and its own place."

4. **On the research process**:
- "The research was...something that took place in multiple archives, um, over a long period of time."

5. **On the dialectic of violence**:
- "The dialectic of violence was this kind of ongoing cycle of renewed violence that came in different kinds of forms."

6. **On the experiences of people living along the border**:
- "The lived experience of most people in the border is not one of violence."

7. **On the relationship between communities and nation-states**:
- "There have been these flashpoints that have been important for...creating the kinds of communities and the kinds of relationships."

8. **On the perception of the border**:
- "I hope that...those readers would be able to take a fuller understanding of the...various historical convideos and dynamics that have shaped the border."

9. **On the cooperation and conflict along the border**:
- "Where different kinds of relationships, you know, both in conflict but also in cooperation, are always...taking shape."

10. **On the modernization efforts and their effects**:
- "The impulses of modernization...were focused on bringing new settlement, but also on bringing investment for railroads."

These quotes illustrate the key themes of historical convideo, the complexity of border identities, experiences, and the interplay of violence and community on the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Had kind of a long genesis.

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Um, I defended that dissertation in 2013,

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and I've been teaching at the community

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college where I currently work.

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And so it, it took, it took quite a while of revision

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and thinking to get the manuscript to where it needed to be

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to be published.

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Um, so within all of that, you know, my motivation was

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to detail the history of a section of the US Mexico border

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that is often ignored.

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Um, it's often seen as kind of marginal peripheral, even

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for, you know, an area that is marginal

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and peripheral unto itself.

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Um, and so the, the way

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that it shows up mostly in different accounts,

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whether in Mexican revolutionary history

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or the history of the United States

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or the Borderlands, is as the, the site

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that Pancho via attacked in 1916

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during the Mexican Revolution.

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And so what I wanted to do is contextualize that, so

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that it could be understood on its own

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terms and its own place.

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The research was, as with all, border histories

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or transnational histories, it was something

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that took place in multiple archives, over a long period

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of time, you know, so I, I started out in New Mexico

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because that's where I was living, that's

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where I am living in headquartered,

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visited the state archives in Santa Fe,

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the archives at the Center

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for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico.

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And from there branched out with, the different kinds

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of research questions that were coming up based on the

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New Mexico side of the story.

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You know, so Columbus, New Mexico

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was sort of my starting place.

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Uh, but then I realized it didn't develop

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until the border town of Palomas Chihuahua, was settled

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and developed in the late 1880s.

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And so,

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besides going to the National Archives in College Park

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and in Washington DC I also made a trip to Mexico City.

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Um, so I could visit the, A GN, the arch

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and the, their state Department,

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the SRE has an as well.

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So I made a trip there, so

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that I could look at the Mexican side of things.

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That was for the, the phases

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of the manuscript when it was the dissertation.

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And then since then, I've been able to visit archives

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and see that chihuahua.

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Um, so archival research

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and thinking about, you know,

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the places the documents were housed

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and how I was able to access, certain collections

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that I needed was a big part of, of the process.

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And then beyond that, as I kind of mentioned

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before, the writing process was something that,

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that took a little while, a number of years

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because of my teaching responsibilities

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and of the work that I was doing.

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And so I had the opportunity to really reflect, kind

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of put the manuscript down, come back

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to it over and over again.

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And thankfully during the 20 21, 20 22 academic year,

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I was able to get a fellowship from the A CLS

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and Mellon that allowed me

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to get some time released from teaching so

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that I could really dedicate time

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to polishing the manuscript

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and getting it prepped for the publisher.

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So that was the, the final push

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that helped me to get it done.

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I spent lots of hours in the West wing

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of the Zimmerman Library at the University of New Mexico,

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getting those final revisions done.

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It started, well

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before the Mexican Revolution started with the,

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conflicts against the, any Apaches in the region

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of the New Mexico Chihuahua borderlands.

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Um, and that has often been referred to as the Apache Wars.

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Uh, but that was the effort by the US

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and the Mexican states to dispossess the Apaches

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of those areas in order to settle and develop them.

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Um, and so that's kind of the moment

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where this study begins,

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because that was the moment when, settlers,

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but also different agents of these nation states,

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capitalists, entrepreneurs, railroad builders,

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became interested in the space

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that has become the New Mexico Chihuahua border

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as a potential site for development.

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Um, and so from there, the impulses of modernization

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that went along with the Gilded Age in the United States

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and the Portato in Mexico, the Portato is the,

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dictatorship of Port Diaz,

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in which he really focused on modernization

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on bringing new settlement,

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but also on bringing investment for railroads.

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In the case of Northwestern Chihuahua,

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it was large scale ranching, that was controlled

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by a couple of prominent families, in that state,

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most prominently the Terasis clan.

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And so that's how, you know, modernization began.

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And interestingly with the New Mexico Chihuahua border area,

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there weren't settlements there to begin with.

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The border was drawn through, through a desert

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that was an Apache homeland.

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And so it was

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because of the border in many senses that settlements began

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to develop in that area as a means of promoting a port

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of entry and trade between the two nations.

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Um, and what, what sort

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of interested me initially when I started this project,

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it was a seminar paper,

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in grad school about the Mormon colonies in

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northwestern Chihuahua.

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Just 'cause I didn't even realize that that was a thing

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until grad school.

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And so I wanted to find out more about them.

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And from there, I became interested in the kinds

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of concessions that were given by the Mexican

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State to colonizers who were tasked

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with building railroads,

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but also with bringing, Mexican heritage people

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who had been living, in the area

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of the borderland since prior to the US Mexico War,

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that there was an effort to repatriate them,

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or to bring them into chihuahua as settlers

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to essentially hold the line, against the Apaches at

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that time that I was was talking about previously.

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So, you know, my, the interest sort of grew out of that,

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but then the modernization efforts,

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that accompanied those kinds of initiatives ended up

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recasting those settlers, those repatriates, the few

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that came to this area as the ones who were all of a sudden

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backward, less than civilized, not fit for, the kinds

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of modernization that capitalists

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who would come from outside could bring.

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Um, and so what I talk about as well throughout the,

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the book is this notion of a dialectic of violence.

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And so it was, a,

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the dialectic of violence was this kind of ongoing cycle

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of renewed violence that came in different kinds of forms.

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So I use a large, kind of a wide, wide, definition

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of violence to think about things as diverse

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as the conflict against the Apaches as modernist development

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that ended up, placing settlers on the outs

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with the state and with the modernizers.

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Um, and then actual revolutionary, violence

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that came in raids as kind of under the same rubric

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because all of those things were part

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of the development of this area.

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And in being, you know, destructive

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and violent, they were also the things that created,

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the communities and the, the places that were,

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were forged from the spaces of this border.

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My intention is to emphasize the reality that

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the lived experience of most people in the border

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is not one of violence.

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Um, and that there have been these flashpoints

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that have been important for, you know, creating

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the kinds of communities

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and the kinds of relationships that each nation state has

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to the border, us and Mexico.

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Um, but at the same time, people have to

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live their daily lives in those areas and in those spaces,

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and they've continued to do so.

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You know, even in spite of, of the raids

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that happened on the Palomas Customs House in

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18 93, 18 96, 19 0 8, those all came

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before the kind of official start

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to the Mexican Revolution in 1910.

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And then it was, you know, six years later in 1916

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that Pancho v raided the US side of that border.

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Um, so, you know, again, those were, were flashpoints.

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They're important for understanding, the ways

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that settlers were, were drawn to the areas

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and some of the hesitations that settlers would have.

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So, for example, in chapter five of the book,

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I talk about the development of a placement.

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Um, this is essentially rewriting

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and recasting, the, the area for people

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who haven't quite been there yet

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to attract them as settlers.

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So instead of saying, you know, this is a place

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that is often racked by revolution, the founders

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of the Columbus Town site,

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really emphasized the potential for artesian

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agriculture in this area.

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And of course, you know, that's problematic as well

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because this is an extremely dry place.

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But their whole idea was to emphasize

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that this area along the border with Mexico was a place

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that was safe and attractive to

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white American family farmers.

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Um, this was at the time of the Homestead Act, you know,

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so there were promises of getting large tracks

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of land if you were able to come

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and settle it and develop it.

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But all the while they were ignoring

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and sometimes purposefully erasing the large community

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of Mexican heritage people that lived on both sides

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of this border, who had been there for, you know, decades

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by the 1910s.

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And, because of that,

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because of the revolution,

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the play Smith never quite took hold.

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But again, it's just these interesting dynamics

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that are really easy to see in this place.

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And it also helps us to understand that, you know, Columbus,

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it wasn't just a random thing that Pancho via attacked it.

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Um, I also outlined the kinds of relationships

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that he had with folks in Columbus.

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Um, during the revolution, arms trafficking was,

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was a major enterprise for a lot of the people

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who just had mercantile stores and those kinds of things,

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but they would, channel arms

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and ammunition to different revolutionary groups.

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And at the national level in the United States,

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depending on whether we're talking about the Taft

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administration or the Wilson Administration,

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there were different moments where that kind

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of trade was legal or not

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with different factions in the revolution.

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And so the border became a place

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where revolutionaries would come

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and try to get those arms, that ammunition.

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And, you know, in fact, one

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of the theories about white Pancho via rated, excuse me,

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white Pancho via rated Columbus, was that one of these,

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one of these merchants named Sam Ravel either sold him some

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faulty ammunition

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or failed to deliver on some

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ammunition that had been paid for.

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Um, it's, you know, again, that's one of those things

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that we may never have that definitive answer about,

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but we do know that Via had an office in Columbus

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that he had relationships with the merchants

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and with the people of the place.

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And so, you know, it wasn't an accident

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that Columbus was the site that

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Was chosen. And

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I'm hoping that, you know, again, the book

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as a whole helps to contextualize that reality.

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You know, for the borderland and the way it developed.

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I do hope that they get this longer historical context

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and a, a rethinking of the border just

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because it can be such a, a polarizing

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and misunderstood place, especially

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for folks in the United States who

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may never have visited the border,

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but only see it in the news

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and only see it in in political discourse.

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Um, I would hope that, that those readers would be able to

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take a fuller understanding of the, various historical

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contexts and dynamics that have shaped the border so

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that they can see it as a, a, not a scary place

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or not a, a place fraught with violence and issues,

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but a place that has been where the,

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national identities of both the United States

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and Mexico have been forged,

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and where different kinds of relationships, you know,

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both in conflict

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but also in cooperation, are always, you know,

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taking shape.

Quick Answers

"Unveiling Marginal Narratives: The Long Journey of Documenting the New Mexico-Chihuahua Border History"

00:00:00 - Had kind of a long genesis. I defended that dissertation in 2013, and I've been teaching at the community college where I currently work. And so it, it took, it took quite a while of revision and thinking to get the manuscript to where it needed to be to be published. so within all of that, you know, my motivation was to detail the history of a section of the US Mexico border that is often ignored. it's often seen as kind of marginal peripheral, even for, you know, an area that is marginal and peripheral unto itself. and so the, the way that it shows up mostly in different accounts,
00:00:45 - or the history of the United States or the Borderlands, is as the, the site that Pancho via attacked in 1916 during the Mexican Revolution. And so what I wanted to do is contextualize that, so that it could be understood on its own terms and its own place. The research was, as with all, border histories or transnational histories, it was something that took place in multiple archives, over a long period of time, you know, so I, I started out in New Mexico because that's where I was living, that's where I am living in headquartered, visited the state archives in Santa Fe,
00:01:25 - for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico. And from there branched out with, the different kinds of research questions that were coming up based on the New Mexico side of the story. You know, so Columbus, New Mexico was sort of my starting place. but then I realized it didn't develop until the border town of Palomas Chihuahua, was settled and developed in the late 1880s. And so, besides going to the National Archives in College Park and in Washington DC I also made a trip to Mexico City. so I could visit the, A GN, the arch
00:02:08 - the SRE has an as well. So I made a trip there, so that I could look at the Mexican side of things. That was for the, the phases of the manuscript when it was the dissertation. And then since then, I've been able to visit archives and see that chihuahua. so archival research and thinking about, you know, the places the documents were housed and how I was able to access, certain collections that I needed was a big part of, of the process. And then beyond that, as I kind of mentioned before, the writing process was something that,
00:02:52 - because of my teaching responsibilities and of the work that I was doing. And so I had the opportunity to really reflect, kind of put the manuscript down, come back to it over and over again. And thankfully during the 20 21, 20 22 academic year, I was able to get a fellowship from the A CLS and Mellon that allowed me to get some time released from teaching so that I could really dedicate time to polishing the manuscript and getting it prepped for the publisher. So that was the, the final push that helped me to get it done. I spent lots of hours in the West wing
00:03:33 - getting those final revisions done. It started, well before the Mexican Revolution started with the, conflicts against the, any Apaches in the region of the New Mexico Chihuahua borderlands. and that has often been referred to as the Apache Wars. but that was the effort by the US and the Mexican states to dispossess the Apaches of those areas in order to settle and develop them. and so that's kind of the moment where this study begins, because that was the moment when, settlers, but also different agents of these nation states,

"Modernization and Conflict: The Complex History of the New Mexico-Chihuahua Border"

00:04:16 - became interested in the space that has become the New Mexico Chihuahua border as a potential site for development. and so from there, the impulses of modernization that went along with the Gilded Age in the United States and the Portato in Mexico, the Portato is the, dictatorship of Port Diaz, in which he really focused on modernization on bringing new settlement, but also on bringing investment for railroads. In the case of Northwestern Chihuahua,
00:04:55 - by a couple of prominent families, in that state, most prominently the Terasis clan. And so that's how, you know, modernization began. And interestingly with the New Mexico Chihuahua border area, there weren't settlements there to begin with. The border was drawn through, through a desert that was an Apache homeland. And so it was because of the border in many senses that settlements began to develop in that area as a means of promoting a port of entry and trade between the two nations. and what, what sort
00:05:36 - it was a seminar paper, in grad school about the Mormon colonies in northwestern Chihuahua. Just 'cause I didn't even realize that that was a thing until grad school. And so I wanted to find out more about them. And from there, I became interested in the kinds of concessions that were given by the Mexican State to colonizers who were tasked with building railroads, but also with bringing, Mexican heritage people who had been living, in the area of the borderland since prior to the US Mexico War,
00:06:16 - or to bring them into chihuahua as settlers to essentially hold the line, against the Apaches at that time that I was was talking about previously. So, you know, my, the interest sort of grew out of that, but then the modernization efforts, that accompanied those kinds of initiatives ended up recasting those settlers, those repatriates, the few that came to this area as the ones who were all of a sudden backward, less than civilized, not fit for, the kinds of modernization that capitalists who would come from outside could bring.
00:06:57 - the book is this notion of a dialectic of violence. And so it was, a, the dialectic of violence was this kind of ongoing cycle of renewed violence that came in different kinds of forms. So I use a large, kind of a wide, wide, definition of violence to think about things as diverse as the conflict against the Apaches as modernist development that ended up, placing settlers on the outs with the state and with the modernizers. and then actual revolutionary, violence
00:07:43 - because all of those things were part of the development of this area. And in being, you know, destructive and violent, they were also the things that created, the communities and the, the places that were, were forged from the spaces of this border. My intention is to emphasize the reality that the lived experience of most people in the border is not one of violence. and that there have been these flashpoints that have been important for, you know, creating the kinds of communities and the kinds of relationships that each nation state has to the border, us and Mexico. but at the same time, people have to

"Contextualizing the Border: The Historical Interplay of Violence, Settler Narratives, and Modernization Efforts"

00:08:24 - and they've continued to do so. You know, even in spite of, of the raids that happened on the Palomas Customs House in 18 93, 18 96, 19 0 8, those all came before the kind of official start to the Mexican Revolution in 1910. And then it was, you know, six years later in 1916 that Pancho v raided the US side of that border. so, you know, again, those were, were flashpoints. They're important for understanding, the ways that settlers were, were drawn to the areas and some of the hesitations that settlers would have.
00:09:07 - I talk about the development of a placement. this is essentially rewriting and recasting, the, the area for people who haven't quite been there yet to attract them as settlers. So instead of saying, you know, this is a place that is often racked by revolution, the founders of the Columbus Town site, really emphasized the potential for artesian agriculture in this area. And of course, you know, that's problematic as well because this is an extremely dry place. But their whole idea was to emphasize
00:09:46 - that was safe and attractive to white American family farmers. this was at the time of the Homestead Act, you know, so there were promises of getting large tracks of land if you were able to come and settle it and develop it. But all the while they were ignoring and sometimes purposefully erasing the large community of Mexican heritage people that lived on both sides of this border, who had been there for, you know, decades by the 1910s. And, because of that, because of the revolution, the play Smith never quite took hold.
00:10:26 - that are really easy to see in this place. And it also helps us to understand that, you know, Columbus, it wasn't just a random thing that Pancho via attacked it. I also outlined the kinds of relationships that he had with folks in Columbus. during the revolution, arms trafficking was, was a major enterprise for a lot of the people who just had mercantile stores and those kinds of things, but they would, channel arms and ammunition to different revolutionary groups. And at the national level in the United States, depending on whether we're talking about the Taft administration or the Wilson Administration, there were different moments where that kind
00:11:07 - with different factions in the revolution. And so the border became a place where revolutionaries would come and try to get those arms, that ammunition. And, you know, in fact, one of the theories about white Pancho via rated, excuse me, white Pancho via rated Columbus, was that one of these, one of these merchants named Sam Ravel either sold him some faulty ammunition or failed to deliver on some ammunition that had been paid for. it's, you know, again, that's one of those things that we may never have that definitive answer about, but we do know that Via had an office in Columbus that he had relationships with the merchants
00:11:49 - And so, you know, it wasn't an accident that Columbus was the site that Was chosen. And I'm hoping that, you know, again, the book as a whole helps to contextualize that reality. You know, for the borderland and the way it developed. I do hope that they get this longer historical context and a, a rethinking of the border just because it can be such a, a polarizing and misunderstood place, especially for folks in the United States who may never have visited the border, but only see it in the news and only see it in in political discourse. I would hope that, that those readers would be able to take a fuller understanding of the, various historical

"Redefining the Border: A Narrative of Identity, Conflict, and Cooperation"

00:12:57 - that they can see it as a, a, not a scary place or not a, a place fraught with violence and issues, but a place that has been where the, national identities of both the United States and Mexico have been forged, and where different kinds of relationships, you know, both in conflict but also in cooperation, are always, you know, taking shape.

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