Reviews for Border Matters: Remapping American Cultural Studies

The average rating for Border Matters: Remapping American Cultural Studies based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-03-26 00:00:00 Wm Sundstrom "Border Matters: Remapping American Cultural Studies," by José David Saldívar, first published in 1997, is a nonfiction book examining the complex, "hybridized" culture present in the geographical location surrounding the 2,000-mile-long United States border with Mexico. "Border Matters" grounds itself in the work of Néstor García Canclini, an academic and anthropologist who developed the concept of "cultural hybridization": a phenomenon that "materializes in multi-determined scenarios where diverse systems intersect and interpenetrate." Saldívar further develops and expands upon this idea regarding the "cultural hybridity" of Chicano/a, Mexican, and U.S. cultures in "Border Matters." The prose is incredibly dense, and the subject matter in this book was entirely unknown to me. I had never heard of Néstor García Canclini before, or the vast majority of the artists, authors, academics, and researchers named in this book. I had to do a *lot* of extra reading and additional research, looking up bios, videos, and source material online, in order to keep up with the text. It was highly rewarding, but if I hadn't put in all the extra effort, this book would not have made any sense to me. This is a very demanding and challenging read. I definitely took a crash course on Chicano/a studies by reading "Border Matters." A truly excellent read. Five stars. Highly recommended to anyone interested in Chicano/a studies, or learning more about life along the U.S./Mexico border.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-08-26 00:00:00 James Culverhouse sssssssss