Sometimes it is interesting how classes tie into one another. Tonight I was in a class about Haiti and we were discussing the culture of border territories, specifically between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. However, we began to discuss the culture of New Mexico in terms of border culture and how our culture differs from other parts of the United States. Definitely here in New Mexico we have a very distinct and unique culture where a mixture of persons, goods, languages, and ideas come into contact resulting in hybridization. In my opinion, this hybridization results in the creation of the culture unique to our state. We also began to talk about how border territories have a specific culture of contraband due to the mixture of persons, goods, languages, and ideas. Likewise, language in New Mexico is unique as well as a result of the mixture of English Spanish and Native languages. My question then is, can we think about language in New Mexico as a part of this culture of contraband? Hmmm...
Interesting idea! I'm not sure I entirely understand what a culture of contraband is, but I'd love to learn more about it. One thing that occurs to me is that it seems to be the laying down of the arbitrary line that is the border that makes things contraband. Like language or even fruit (they searched my family's car once for bringing apples into Canada). Drugs circulate all the time within our country, but we focus on the circulation at the border...any thoughts?
ResponderBorrarOf course! If we apply the concept of metaphorical borders, as did Gonzales 1999.
ResponderBorrarHi Sean, I agree with Ashley, I'm not familiar with the "culture of contraband", however it is quite a fascinating subject. There are several experiences I've had with contraband and I think that the "arbitrary line that is the border" is only a geographical point and sometimes conflicts with the view of what constitutes "contraband". Perfect case in point is the concept of LibroTraficantes which, we all tend to agree, is a correction of corruption. But without a full definition of the culture of contraband you're referring to, this a an open range of stuff we can make up and hypothesize about..... .
ResponderBorrardon't get me wrong, making stuff up is fun, but not necessarily effective in academia.
ARRIBA ALBUQEURQUE!!!
I do it all the time :)
ResponderBorrarWe should talk about culture of contraband in class because I'm not familiar with the term either. Sounds interesting!
ResponderBorrarYea I don't really know what it is either! I think in planting this question I was thinking about the unique culture of New Mexico in comparison with border cultures. I think New Mexico is a unique state because it contains cultural aspects of two very different places. Anyway, when referring to culture of contraband I was curious to hear other opinions about what it means to live in an area where there are a lot of exchange of ideas, culture, language, people, etc. Or this could be phrased, what is it like to live on the border, near the border, or be familiar with two very different worlds? I have never lived in a border town or in a port, but I imagine that in these places there is a culture that is very unique, but also a culture that is ambiguous. In my mind this place is created by the mixture of two different cultures that come together to exchange languages, ideas, people, goods, services, etc.
ResponderBorrar