The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003 Page: 460
675 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
studies to convey the significance of these landscape features to the region's
identity. Small town life, the topic of Chapter Six, is a strong cultural geo-
graphic feature that diffused from northern Spain to Mexican South Texas
where it has persisted for three centuries and remains fundamental to cultural
identity in South Texas. In his treatise of small towns, Arreola shows us on one
hand that there is much in common throughout the region in terms of aes-
thetics, town layout, and familial ties to place, but on the other hand, there are
notable particularities in the character of each town of Mexican South Texas.
The distinctiveness of each is expressed in the varying architecture and social
divisions, based largely on differing degrees of Anglo penetration into the re-
gion. While the three case study towns each have the plazas and barrios that
typify the region, the unique settlement history of each town underlies the
construction of its distinct geography. Likewise the case studies of San Antonio
and Laredo in Chapter Seven illustrate that different degrees of Anglo pres-
ence, coupled with each city's "situation," or setting within the region, create
the distinctive urban landscape of each. Social divisions and their spatial ex-
pressions in San Antonio are largely ethnic in nature, while those of Laredo
are based on economic class. The final two chapters address food types, politi-
cal affiliations and movements, and local perceptions of regional distinctive-
ness, all of which reinforce Texas Mexican identity. Again, variations abound
within the region. The reader may infer that subregions of Mexican South
Texas exist at the town and city level.
Tejano South Texas offers the reader an excellent example of the interdisci-
plinary appeal of cultural geography as an interpretive approach to the study of
place personality. The writing style is quite appropriate for undergraduate stu-
dents of the social sciences and history, yet it contains a wealth of insight and in-
formation based on interviews, observations, historical documents, and other
primary sources, and an impressive array of secondary sources that should in-
spire graduate students and academicians conducting research on the Border-
lands. The comprehensiveness and logical layout of the book make it suitable as
a text for college-level courses on Texas, Hispanic studies, and the Borderlands.
Texas A&M International University MICHAEL S. YODER
Tejano Proud: Tex-Mex Music in the Twentzeth Century. By Guadalupe San Miguel Jr.
(College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2oo2. Pp. xii+192. Illustra-
tions, tables, preface, conclusion, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. IS-
BN 1-58544-188-0. $17.95, paper.)
Tejano Proud provides an overview of miiszca tejana (Texas-Mexican music)
throughout the twentieth century. According to Guadlupe San Miguel Jr., previ-
ous studies have defined misica tejana too restrictively, have focused exclusively
on conjuntos and orquestras, or have failed to analyze changing dance forms.
He provides a synthesis of the development of musica tejana by using academic
studies and popular literature as secondary sources. Supplementing these writ-
ten accounts are an extensive discography and his personal experiences.460
January
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003, periodical, 2003; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101223/m1/528/?rotate=270: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.