著者

三浦 順子

出版者

東京大学大学院総合文化研究科附属グローバル地域研究機構アメリカ太平洋地域研究センター

雑誌

アメリカ太平洋研究 = Pacific and American studies (ISSN:13462989)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.16, pp.93-110, 2016-03

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論文ArticlesThe phrase "the Mexican Problem" was invented in Texas during turn of the twentieth century, and it spread throughout the American political and social cultures through the 1910s and 1920s. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the creation of "the Mexican Problem" by focusing on the movement of changing social order in Texas during the 1910s. Since the turn of the twentieth century, Texas faced drastic social changes in its social, political, and economic structures. The rise of the political career of James E. Ferguson, governor of Texas, from 1914 to the middle of 1917 was seen as a symbol of those changes. Ferguson stated the importance of the Farming in Texas development and claimed to turn sharecroppers into independent capitalists. Also, he left the topic of prohibition out of political account and placed breweries that were mainly operated by German Americans in Texas urban areas, turning them into an industry that significantly contributed to the state's economic resources. On the other hand, Mexicans were treated as cheap laborers and temporary commuters working in Texas. Their numbers were huge, but they had limited functions as members of society. World War I institutionalized those Mexicans positioned in Texas during their Americanization program, and eventually they were spread throughout the entire country. Mexicans were identified and problematized, which had nothing to do with racial integration with Whites or their assimilation as immigrants; rather, it was a question of socially locating them as illegitimate citizens of American society.