El Paso historian and author David Dorado Romo believes geography is destiny.
He was born in California but was raised in the borderland, where he attended South Central El Paso schools. The El Paso-Juárez region has played a huge role in his research and writing, he said.
“In Nahuatl, an ancestral language that has its origins on both sides of the border, the word for ‘Indigenous’ is nican tlacatl. It means ‘a person (from) here.’” Romo said. “I see my own identity and knowledge deeply rooted in the Native fronterizo landscape. It’s a source and foundation for much of my work.”
His latest book, “Borderlands and the Mexican American Story,” the latest El Paso Matters Book Club pick, tells United States history through Indigenous and Mexican American voices. It’s part of the Truth Series by Crown Books for Young Readers that aims to present inclusive stories of the nation’s history.
El Paso Matters talked with the author about the motivation behind his book, how he balanced stories of conflict and struggle with ideals of resistance and cultural identity – and what most surprised him during the process.
Your new book, “Borderlands and the Mexican American Story,” invites readers to rethink foundational U.S. history through the lens of Mexican American experiences. What motivated you to write this book and who did you envision as your primary audience?
I was asked by Saira Rao and Regina Jackson, the editors of the Race to the Truth series, to submit a three-page sample of my writing for a book for young people that featured the stories of Mexican Americans in the United States.
They liked what I wrote.
I worked many years in South El Paso teaching chess, music and the arts to youth from the barrio and I think that’s where I got the hang of presenting complex material to that age group, in a way that engaged them without talking down to anyone.
I wanted to write something that was accessible to a 13-year-old student, but that had important insights to offer a 99-year-old person as well.
What do you hope readers unfamiliar with borderlands history take away from this book? Are there particular misconceptions you were eager to address?
First of all, I want to re-center the American origin story. The story of the United States has traditionally been told from East to West, beginning with the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock (or Patuxet) in 1620.
I wanted to tell the story from south to north along the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. This is where the Uto-Aztecan ancestors of Mexican Americans had been migrating back and forth thousands of years before the United States existed. I wanted to write the history from an Indigenous-Mexican American perspective that has been silenced in official historiography.
Your storytelling blends archival research, oral history and cultural analysis. How do you navigate the tension between historical fact and emotional truth when writing about marginalized communities in the borderlands?
Most of the chapters of my book begin with a broad historical outline that contextualizes a specific time period, say for example, the period of the Civil War or the Depression. The stories themselves are laid out in vignettes that are based on solid primary documentation but that focus on the lives of the people who lived in those times.
By focusing closely on certain individuals, often young persons who are often left out of mainstream historical accounts, I wanted the readers to feel what it must have been like to experience the historical events.
I want my historical writings to have both an intellectual and emotional impact. I want the reader to feel history, not only understand it.
“Borderlands and the Mexican American Story” builds on themes you explored in “Ringside Seat to a Revolution.” How do you see the two books speaking to each other – especially given the decade between them?
My first book addressed how important the border was to the first major social revolution of the 20th century. I rewrote some of those stories for a young audience in this recent book, by focusing on the protagonist role of children and young people in creating societal change.
“Borderlands and the Mexican American Story” spans a broader timeline, however, from the prehistoric period up to the first Trump administration. This new book also looks at how the borderlands are not marginal, but have played a central role in the history of this country. People who have read my book sometimes come up to me and ask, “Why wasn’t I taught this history in school?” That’s a good question.
In researching this book, was there a discovery that personally moved or surprised you – something that shifted your understanding of this region’s story?
One of the issues that opened my eyes the most as I did research for this book was the very deliberate attempts by the U.S. government throughout history to erase the indigeneity of Mexican Americans. There has always been a very concerted effort to make sure Mexican Americans in this country feel like they are eternal immigrants, although their Native Uto-Aztecan ancestors had a continuous presence in the American Southwest (la Gran Chichimeca) for millennia.
The point of this intentional erasure of our indigenous ancestry, is to make us feel that we don’t belong here, or have any kind of ancestral roots here. They want to make us feel that this is not our land.
Borderlands history is often told as a story of conflict and struggle. But your work also highlights creativity, resistance, and vibrant culture. How do you decide what to focus on when telling these complex stories?
I tried to find a balance between documenting the historical trauma of the Mexican American people and the stories of resilience, creativity and healing. Howard Zinn, author of “A People’s History of the United States,” once wrote: “They have the guns, we have the poets. Therefore, we will win.”
The artistic and cultural resistance of Mexican Americans, which plays a prominent role in my book, has always been living proof of our unwillingness to disappear.
What’s next for you as a writer and historian?
One book project I’ve been working on is based on remapping Native El Paso and the surrounding borderlands. Most fronterizos have almost no knowledge, beyond the Ysleta and Socorro missions, of the fascinating history of Indigenous people in this area.
I’ve been teaching a Nahuatl class for the last few months, currently held at the Alamito Cultural Center in South El Paso, and I’m gratified by the genuine excitement of the students of all ages who attend these convivio gatherings. There is a great hunger among the fronterizo community to reconnect to their Indigenous ancestry. In these dark times, knowledge of our ancestral roots is something very important to me personally as well.
The post El Paso Matters Book Club Q&A: David Dorado Romo on writing for youth, reclaiming borderlands history, and why U.S. origin stories must expand appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More