FEATURED: Scholars from around the world are fascinated with the Rio Grande Valley, a region whose political beliefs often are covered by newscasts and newspapers, but not through published research. To combat that information gap, a group of University of Texas Rio Grande Valley professors have collaborated on a new compilation book, Politics of the Rio Grande Valley: An Insider’s Perspective to Regional Politics, in an effort to showcase the area’s complex and deep-rooted politics.
Image Courtesy AMAZON
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Seven UTRGV professors release book detailing the history of Valley politics: Politics of the Rio Grande Valley: An Insider’s Perspective to Regional Politics
By MATTHEW CAVAZOS
Scholars from around the world are fascinated with the Rio Grande Valley, a region whose political beliefs often are covered by newscasts and newspapers, but not through published research.
To combat that information gap, a group of University of Texas Rio Grande Valley professors have collaborated on a new compilation book, Politics of the Rio Grande Valley: An Insider’s Perspective to Regional Politics, in an effort to showcase the area’s complex and deep-rooted politics.
“We are in an area that everybody wants to know more about, but there is very little scholarly work about the region,” said Dr. Alexandre Couture Gagnon, UTRGV associate professor of Political Science and one of the book’s two editors. “Now, we’re going to have an edited book where a lot of scholars contributed their expertise. And maybe, it will lead to more research on the area.”
According to a summary by Amazon of the publication:
“Politics of the Rio Grande Valley: An Insider’s Perspective to Regional Politics provides a nuanced (detailed) understanding of regional politics in Southern Texas. While most research tends to focus on macro and international structures, here Carlos D. Gutiérrez -Mannix and Alexandre Couture Gagnon lead and present an in-depth analysis of the region and the social, political and historical contexts in which it developed. Each chapter is written by professors who are specialists in their field and who have extensive knowledge on the politics of the Rio Grande Valley. From a social, historical and political perspective, Politics of the Rio Grande Valley allows the reader to understand how the Rio Grande Valley is a unique region which continues to evolve and which plays an important role in Texas and American Politics.”
Gagnon solicited contributions from six other professors in the UTRGV College of Liberal Arts including, Dr. Carlos D. Gutierrez-Mannix as an editor, along with Dr. Alvaro J. Corral, Dr. Terry Garrett, Dr. Dongkyu Kim, Dr. Mi-Son Kim, and Dr. Ruth Ann Ragland as contributing authors.
In addition, three faculty members from El Colegio de la Frontera Norte A.C. in Matamoros, Mexico, and faculty members from California State University-Bakersfield, Florida Atlantic University, and Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, also contributed to the story.
She said this compilation not only fulfills the need for political background and history but also should incite others to do research on the Valley.
That’s important beyond Valley boundaries and political lines, she said, because research conducted here can help predict future voting trends for Hispanic and Latino populations across the country.
“If you want to know the future of U.S. politics, you look at the Rio Grande Valley,” Gagnon said. “This is an area of growth. This is where the demographic growth of the country is happening. If you want to know how Hispanics or Latinos are going to vote or what they think about politically, you have a microcosm (example) right here in the Rio Grande Valley.”
She said the book provides far-reaching analyses of the historical, political and social perspectives of the area, all supported by valuable insight into the evolution of ideals and beliefs for a region historically under-analyzed area.
The four counties that make up the Valley – Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy – all rank in the top 10 for the highest percentage of Hispanic or Latino population in their respective county. In all, the Valley is estimated to have 1,287,748 Hispanic or Latinos of the 1,411,152 people living there.
That makes it a prime location for researchers to study the trends of Hispanic or Latino voters, Gagnon said, because of the larger population and its extremely high percentage of Hispanics or Latinos.
In fact, while gathering research for the book in 2022, Gagnon found one constant, salient (important) trend in the past presidential election.
“Hispanic and Latinos are actually a lot more conservative than what the perception can be when you read a newspaper,” Gagnon said. “We also saw that trend in the last presidential election, so our book just may have forecasted it.”
The following segments from the 238-page book are a very brief portion of a much larger and detailed examination of voting patterns and political involvement in the Rio Grande Valley:
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The region presents a couple of unique features that make it a valuable research subject. First, most of the towns and cities are predominantly Hispanic and have registered rapid growth, accompanied by an economic boom. Further, as the percentage of Hispanic population in Texas continues to increase, Hispanics have reached prominent positions in the Texas political establishment.
Considering that the Hispanic population living at the border continues to grow, the region provides into the future of Texas. For instance, much of the demographic and economic growth has been accompanied by political diversification. That is, despite common misconceptions, Hispanics do not vote Democratic en bloc (as a group). In effect, research shows that young Hispanics are much more politically diverse than older Hispanic generations.
However, Democrats in the Rio Grande Valley are not like Democrats in the rest of the country. Former (Sen.) Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D-Brownsville) was proud of following the policy recommendations from the Texas Catholic Conference, having voted against abortion rights all his career. Mayra Flores was elected as a Republican U.S. representative in a special election with a newly drawn district in 2022. She lost the following general election to Democrat Vicente González in 2023.
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To examine the posture (presence) of Spanish in the RGV, we start we the premise that Spanish is the language associated with a lower socioeconomic status while English is the language associated with higher socioeconomic status.
(Socioeconomic (SES) status refers to a person’s position within a social hierarchy, typically based on a combination of factors like income, education, and occupation. It reflects a person’s economic and social standing relative to others in society. SES can influence access to resources, opportunities, and overall well-being.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=socioeconomic+status+definition&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8)
In the RGV, Spanish is widely used in informal settings but is generally associated with poverty. (The renowned sociolinguist Joshua Fishman’s) main recommendation is that public schools teach and function in the lower-status language (Spanish). In the RGV, Spanish is used in public schools, but mainly to transition Spanish-speaking students to English instruction. Spanish is taught as a secondary language.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Fishman
(Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society, examining how language use is influenced by social factors like gender, ethnicity, class, and region. It explores how language varies across social contexts and how it shapes social identities.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=what+is+a+sociolinguistic&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8)
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The social media accounts and websites of local institutions are often in English. Some communication with parents is in Spanish (e.g., uniform policy). Another recommendation Fishman is to the effect that workplaces should function in Spanish. In Fishman’s experience, small businesses in the RGV use Spanish, but richer ones use English; in some cities like Brownsville, hiring a construction company without Spanish can be difficult.
Fishman also recommends that media and government use the lower language (Spanish) to improve its status. In the RGV, media are in both Spanish and English. Government offices use Spanish only informally: for example, the minutes and agenda of city commissions are in English; however, front desk workers are usually able to communicate in Spanish.
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The Table of Contents for the book follows:
PART I: POVERTY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
1. Spanish and Colonias: Symbols of Poverty in the Rio Grande Valley
– Carlos D. Gutiérrez-Mannix and Alexandre Couture Gagnon
2. Working in the Shadow of the Wall: The Politics of Low-Wage Work
– JoséG.Villagrán and Álvaro J. Corral
3. Environmental Justice in Laguna Madre: SpaceX Starship Rocket Launches and the Effects on the People, Plants and Wildlife
– Arthur J. Sementelli and Terance M. Garrett
4. Social Movements in the Rio Grande Valley: Mapping and Weaving Emancipatory (freeing) Resistances
– Mónica Clua-Losada and Mireya E. García
5. The Power of One Vote in an Educational Partnership Divorce: A Case Study of the Split of Texas Southmost College and The University of Texas at Brownsville
– Ruth Ann Ragland
PART II: THE BORDER
6. Reining in Migrants: The Spectacle in Del Rio, Texas, and Other Stories of Human Rights Abuses in the Lone Star State
– Terrance M. Garrett and Carlos D.Gutiérrez-Mannix
7. Toward Binational Parks: Cross-Border Metropolitan Governance in the Lower Rio Grande Valley/Bravo Twin Cities
– Xavier Oliveras González
8. Brownsville’s Original Sin as a Taint to This City Identity
– Arturo Zárate-Ruiz
9. Violence and Crime at the Tamaulipas-Texas Border
– José Andrés Sumano Rodríguez
PART III: HISPANIC BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES
10. Assessing Latino Undergraduate Immigration Attitudes in the RGV
– Natasha Altema McNeely, Mi-son Kim, and Dongkyu Kim
11. Co-ethnic Candidates and Border Security Appeals: Does Shared Ethnicity Increase Border Security?
– Carlos D. Gutiérrez-Mannix
Conclusion
– Carlos D. Gutiérrez-Mannix
About the Authors
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Politics of the Rio Grande Valley: An Insider’s Perspective to Regional Politics is available online at Rowman & Littlefield and Amazon.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.
UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, Weslaco, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.
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David A. Díaz contributed to this article. For more on this and other Texas legislative news stories that affect the Rio Grande Valley metropolitan region, please log on to Titans of the Texas Legislature (TitansoftheTexasLegislature.com).
