Book Review Border Fictions

Review
Reviewed Work(s): Border Fictions: Globalization, Empire, and Writing at the Boundaries
of the United States. New World Studies. Ser by Claudia Sadowski-Smith and A. James
Arnold
Review by: Jill Doerfler
Source: Studies in American Indian Literatures, Series 2, Vol. 21, No. 2 (SUMMER 2009), pp.
75-78
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20737477
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Book Reviews
Claudia Sadowski-Smith. Border Fictions: Globalization, Empire,

and Writing at the Boundaries of the United States. New World
Studies. Ser. ed. A. James Arnold. Charlottesville: U of Virginia P,
2008. ISBN: 978-0-8139-2677-3.187 pp.
Jill Doerfler, University of Minnesota Duluth
As interest in the field of border studies grows, there is a need for

succinct, teachable texts that can be used to shape courses. In
deed, for those looking to develop a literature course that analyzes
the impact and influence of borders, Border Fictions is an excel
lent choice. This text is also highly useful for scholars who are
interested in learning more about this growing field and how its
methodologies and insights might prove useful in their own work.
Border Fictions is on the cutting edge of the field and is (to my
knowledge) the first text that compares and contrasts multieth
nic and transnational cultural representations in fiction about the
U.S. borders while placing the literatures within their social and
political contexts. In Border Fictions, Claudia Sadowski-Smith pro
poses a new model of inter-American studies utilizing fiction and
theories of globalization. Each chapter examines a range of fiction,
by both well-known and lesser-known authors, including novels,
short story collections, autobiographies, and plays, and places the
pieces within their respective historical and political contexts. Sa
dowski-Smith also puts the pieces in dialogue with each other, es
tablishing valuable connections as well as important distinctions.
76 SAIL SUMMER 2009 * VOL. 21, NO. 2
She emphasizes a hemispheric orientation, focusing on two specific

manifestations of empire?free trade and the increased militariza
tion of the U.S. border.
In the useful introduction, Sadowski-Smith describes the meth
odological concentration of the text:
Border Fictions suggests an alternative inter-American frame

work that focuses on North American borders and that
places into dialogue hemispheric approaches to these geog
raphies from Chicana/o, Asian American, American Indian,
Latin American, and Canadian studies. Such a model shifts
the focus in humanities-based border studies from a particu
lar ethnic group, its critique of exclusive notions of U.S. citi
zenship, and its connections to Latin America, to a spatial
ized perspective that acknowledges the internal diversity of
border areas and its linkage to theories of nationalism and
U.S. imperialism. (17)
She is careful to note that while she proposes the bridging of aca
demic disciplines, such collaborations and connections need not
lead to the weakening of individual ethnic studies departments
or the creation of inter-American programs. She envisions inter
disciplinary partnerships that would encourage new forms of aca
demic inquiry. While acknowledging that this study is limited to
texts either written in or translated into English, Sadowski-Smith
notes that work in inter-American studies could be developed in
Spanish, French, Portuguese, Indigenous languages, and the many
other languages of the Americas.
The first chapter, "Chicana/o Writing and the U.S.-Mexico Bor
der," delineates the historical tradition of Chicana/o literature that
develops the international boundary between the United States
and Mexico as an explicit setting and theme. As a means to set the
stage for comparison, Sadowski-Smith traces the themes of border
lands/Za frontera and Aztlan in the work of many authors including
Ito Romo, Miguel Mendez, Gloria Anzald?a, Sandra Cisneros, and
Lucrecia Guerrero. In doing so, she places Chicana/o and Latina/o
studies at the intersection from which other literatures may be con
nected in an inter-American studies framework.
Book Reviews 77
In chapter 2, "Asian Border Crossings," Sadowski-Smith ex

amines representations of "undocumented" Asian im/migrations
throughout the Northern Hemisphere. She focuses on the over
looked early work of Edith Maude Eaton (Sui Sin Far), which is
set in Canada and depicts the first-known fictional representation
of a character to cross the U.S.-Canada border. She also examines
Karen Tei Yamashita's Tropic of Orange for similarities in the expe
riences of Asians and Latinas/os with U.S. expressions of empire.
Sadowski-Smith demonstrates that the works of both authors re
veal important intersections among Asian American, Chicana/o,
and inter-American studies.
Chapter 3, "Native Border Theory," explores Indigenous per

spectives on the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders through
the fiction of Leslie Marmon Silko and Thomas King. The focus of
these authors on border tribes (Yaqui and Blackfoot) complicates
the well-defined colonial nation-state borders, including the role
of the border in American Indian studies, while articulating tribal
land struggles and sovereignty. Sadowski-Smith argues, "Silko and
King fictionalize possible responses to these developments (eco
nomic hemispheric agreements and U.S. border militarization)
in hemispheric notions of indigeneity that highlight native sover
eignty, border crossing, and land rights" (95).
Chapter 4, "A View from the South," considers concerns about
nationalism and empire in fiction from Mexican and Mexican
American writers including Carlos Fuentes. In 1995, Fuentes pub
lished an entire work of fiction on the contemporary U.S.-Mexico
border, La frontera de cristal (translated in 1997 as The Crystal
Frontier). Fuentes articulates several forms of nationalism that
are detached from state-sponsored forms and highlights how con
temporary state governments have created conditions that inten
sified Mexico's trade and labor dependency. Sadowski-Smith also
explores the lesser-known work of Federico Campbell, some of
which focuses on Tijuana, and Rosina Conde, whose work high
lights gender.
While noting exceptions such as the work of Russell Brown,
Sadowski-Smith argues that contemporary inter-American schol
78 SAIL SUMMER 2009'VOL. 21, NO. 2
arship has all but ignored Canada and its border with the United
States, pointing out that most U.S. cultural productions depict
Canada as an extension of the United States. Thus, chapter 5, "A
Border Like No Other," addresses a variety of Canadian fictions,
including works by Janette Turner Hospital, Michael V. Smith,
Clark Blaise, and Guillermo Verdecchia, that examine Canadian
identity and the ways in which its southern border has functioned
in relation to immigration and trade.
In Border Fictions, Sadowski-Smith packs in a breadth of tex
tual analysis, theory, and historical and contemporary background
information all while demonstrating the ways in which a spatial
ized application can bring new insights. This text is an important
contribution to the field that will be highly useful for courses dis
cussing globalization, nationalism, and borders. For those of us
working in the field of American Indian literature, the text pro
vides a new analytical lens and opens up a range of valuable pos
sibilities for increased dialogue with other fields.
Ernestine Hayes. Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir. Sun

Tracks: An American Indian Literary Series. Tucson: U of Arizona
P, 2006. ISBN: 0-8165-2537-4.173 pp.
Becca Gercken, University of Minnesota Morris
With her opening words, Ernestine Hayes informs readers that she
will tell her story in a fashion that honors her ancestors and Tlingit
oral tradition. She begins in her native language?the book's first
printed words are "haa shagoon" ("our ancestors")?and gives
her Tlingit name, Saankal?xt, before her "white man name." She
proceeds to recount her ancestry, establishing both her right to
speak as a Tlingit woman and her connection to the land: "We
belong to Lingit Aani" (n. pag.). It is a traditional beginning to
what has become, sadly, a traditional story: Native families dam
aged by assimilationist policies and alcohol abuse. Yet Hayes offers
a hopeful narrative of returning home to the land that will always
embrace its people.

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Review

Claudia Sadowski-Smith. Border Fictions: Globalization, Empire,

As interest in the field of border studies grows, there is a need for

She emphasizes a hemispheric orientation, focusing on two specific

Border Fictions suggests an alternative inter-American frame

In chapter 2, "Asian Border Crossings," Sadowski-Smith ex

Chapter 3, "Native Border Theory," explores Indigenous per

Ernestine Hayes. Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir. Sun

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