No Separate Refuge: Culture, Class, and Gender on an Anglo-Hispanic Frontier in the American Southwest, 1880-1940

by Sarah Deutsch

Long after the Mexican-American War brought the Southwest under the United States flag, Anglos and Hispanics within the region continued to struggle for dominion. From the arrival of railroads through the height of the New Deal, Sarah Deutsch explores the cultural and economic strategies of Anglos and Hispanics as they competed for territory, resources, and power, and examines the impact this struggle had on Hispanic work, community, and gender patterns. Based on an award winning dissertation, this book analyzes the intersection of culture, class, and gender at disparate sites on the Anglo-Hispanic frontier--Hispanic villages, coal mining towns, and sugar beet districts in Colorado and New Mexico--showing that throughout the region there existed a vast network of migrants, linked by common experience and by kinship. Devoting particular attention to the role of women in cross-cultural interaction, No Separate Refuge brings to light 80 years of Southwestern history that saw
Hispanic work transformed, community patterns shifted, and gender roles critically altered. Drawing on personal interviews, school census and missionary records, private letters, and a wealth of other records, Deutsch traces developments from one state to the next, and from one decade to the next, providing an important contribution to the history of the Southwest, race relations, labor, agriculture, women, and Chicanos.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

372 pages, Paperback

First published November 12, 1987

Reviews

[Neil Lovell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd probably rate this closer to a 3.5 than a 3. I am glad and really appreciate her analysis of the Hispanic communal village and centrality of women. Pretty good micro histories and destructing the frontier. I'm not sure I liked her use of Anglo or Chicano. While at moments these terms were applicable, I think they belong to certain times and places. She could have described that better. Worth a read, especially if you're from Colorado or New Mexico.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

American women's history

[Lashonda Slaughter Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book and the way that Anglo Americans marginalized the Hispanic population similarly to how the Native Peoples were marginalized was tragic.