Perceptive critics of the modern academy have long lamented the overly narrow specialization present in many of today’s scholarly disciplines. Such an inwardly directed focus leads to the production of published works that fail to draw on advances in other areas of study and, thus, present an incomplete picture to the discerning reader. José Limón, professor of English and anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin, eschews this more limited approach in favor of one in which he seeks to embrace elements of several disciplines to tell his story.
Drawing on insights from history, folklore, literature, anthropology, and popular culture, Limón skillfully illuminates the ways late-twentieth-century Mexican-Americans in South Texas, especially in the Rio Grande Valley, have both challenged and evolved an accommodation with the dominant Anglo culture, a process he refers to as “dancing with the devil.” In the course of his work, he pays intellectual homage to his scholarly forebears, of whom he notes particularly John Gregory Bourke, J. Frank Dobie, Jovita González Mireles, and especially Américo Paredes, all of whom have written of this same unique culture but from slightly different perspectives and at different time periods. Focusing particularly on activities such as dances, male drinking protocols, eating, and so forth, Limón enlarges upon the works of others and brings to his writing not only the intellectual discipline of a trained scholar but also the insights gained from having grown up in the culture and remembering a great deal of what his keen eyes and ears conveyed to him. Indeed, his autobiographical recollections offer some of the more perceptive glimpses into the evolution of a place and a people that are beginning to exert a profound influence in other parts of the state and region, but whose cultural complexeties remain only partially understood by persons of other cultures.
The book is extensively researched, well documented, and gracefully written. For those seeking a better understanding of the vibrant and rapidly growing culture of South Texas and its people, it is essential reading.