The Frontier, Inside Out

In recent years, border politics have become the driving force in U.S. politics nationally, crystalizing questions of who gets to be American. At this talk, Sammy Feldblum will examine the politics of the border through a spate of recently released books on the subject, tracing how U.S. views of Mexico and of Mexicans combine reheated rhetoric from the British and Spanish colonial eras with frontier ideas about Native Americans. The often brutal policing of the increasingly impervious southern border reads as an inversion of the frontier myth, which looked out on a world and saw nothing but opportunity for expansion. Frontier tactics echo in the modern day: the migrant camps dotting the border recall Fort Sumner’s days as a concentration camp for Navajo and Mescalero Apache. Understanding that history is key to understanding the frontera today.

This stimulating talk will occur over the lunch hour and we encourage those attending to bring food with them. If this is your first time coming to Fort Sumner Historic Site, please stay and bear witness to the history yourself.