Lessons from Comparing the Two Southwests: Southwest China and Northwest New Spain/Southwest US

Abstract

I compare and contrast two "southwestern"" frontiers: the southwestern United States. long northeast New Spain (short hand: New Mexico) and southwest China (short hand: Yunnan). Both have been. and even today remain. frontier zones. In the 2]51 century both are also important borderlands for two of the most important players in the modern world-system. the United States and China. They share a historical orientation to the areas outside of the two states into which they were ultimately incorporated. Both brought a great deal of new practices and ideas into the incorporating states. They serve to give deep historical backgrounds which put discussions of contemporary globalization in perspective. This comparison also makes clear that the concepts of nation-state and precise borders are typically modern and that setting precise borders is a continuing project. even while borderlands remain. like the frontiers that preceded them. frontier zones. These comparisons may also yield insights into world-system expansion and incorporation.</jats:p