ABSTRACT
“Borderland(s)” is a concept used in various lines of research, where different meanings are attributed to it. As Walter Johnson and Andrew R. Graybill observed from a North American perspective, the label of borderlands scholarship can refer to heterogeneous fields of research as a focus on certain geographic areas, United States-American Mexican history, Mexican migration, or interest in cultural hybridity and identity. Building on foundations laid by Herbert Eugene Bolton, the historians Adelman and Aron for example develop the term “borderland” in opposition to the terms “frontier” and “bordered lands.” A more analytical definition to determine the limits of a borderland has been offered by the aforementioned Joan Martinez-Alier, who argues that these limits depend “on the geographical reach of the interaction with the ‘other side.’” Therefore, “some borderlands are physically small because foreign influences are confined to the immediate border area; others are large because such influences penetrate far beyond the border zone”.
