Border Renaissance: The Texas Centennial and the Emergence of Mexican American Literature

(University of Texas Press) The author revisits the 1930s as a crucial decade for the Mexican American reclamation of Texas history. The 1936 Texas Centennial was marked by statewide celebrations of independence from Mexico, and Mexican Americans met with a media frenzy that vilified them as the antithesis of Texas liberty. The controversy served as a catalyst for the development of a distinctly Mexican American identity, as Mexican Americans began to forge a new bilingual, bicultural community in the United States. Among the issues that González examines are the development of a modern Tejana identity, the controversies of bicultural nationalism, and other aspects of the transformation from Mexicano to Mexican American. González is an associate professor of English and Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.