LA TIMES reviews HYPERBORDER! · Mar 11, 08:24 AM
BOOK REVIEW (EXCERPT)
By Josh Kun
February 17, 2008
“Romero’s goal is not simply to document present conditions but also to strategize for the future. He dreams up 38 prophecies in a playful folio of fake news articles. Dry objectivity suddenly becomes border science fiction: Mexico will be the capital of nursing homes for Americans. It will feed a black market for water. The United States, Canada and Mexico will form a union. The Silicon Valley will be replaced by the Nano Valley in Baja California. The most sought-after college graduates will come from “bi-cultural universities.” Speaking fluent Spanish will be a prerequisite for the U.S. presidency in 2020.”
“Like all good science fiction, Romero’s scenarios are born of current realities, and for him—despite massive inequities—the key reality is interdependence, so much so that “one nation’s future depends on the other,” he argues. More Coca-Cola is consumed per capita in Mexico than in any other country; money sent home from the U.S. exceeds local incomes in five Mexican states, and Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in both countries.”
For more information about Hyperborder: The Contemporary U.S.–Mexico Border and Its Future click here.
commenting closed for this article
Making Sense of Other People's Memories Galleycat reports from the scene of the Surface/Subsurface party!