Asian & Asian American History in the Borderlands

Photograph of young women at a Chinese New Year event held by the Tucson Press Club in 1972 from the Jack Sheaffer photographic collection.

The Borderlands are both geographical and cultural spaces. This fluid space between worlds is a place of cultural wealth that hosts several communities. This libguide, one of many centered on the people of the Borderlands, looks at the experiences of Asian & Asian American people in the Borderlands, from California to Texas, and Baja California to Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Origin of the Guide 

This guide is the fourth installment in a series of libguides highlighting the experiences of Asian & Asian American individuals and communities throughout the U.S./Mexico borderlands. The previous guides have focused on Black, Indigenous, and Mexican & Mexican American communities, and this next installment felt like the natural next step in the series of these guides. Like the previous guides, this guide offers materials documenting the domestic, political, cultural, and social life of an underrepresented group in the United States, seeking to draw attention to the ways they have built and sustained community throughout the borderlands region.  

Scope and Method 

This guide is the result of an extensive survey of UA Libraries Special Collections materials conducted from 2023-2024. Research was specifically focused on Asian & Asian American identities in the borderlands region and special attention was given to distinctions often drawn between identities deemed geographically vs. culturally Asian. This guide seeks to include materials related to Central, East, South, South-Eastern, and Western Asia. These regions and their related nations were determined with assistance from the University of Pittsburgh’s libguide on Asian Country Research. The materials listed in this guide primarily focus on persons related to East Asia, given the long and complex histories of Japanese and Chinese people residing in the Southwest and along the border, but there was a concerted effort to include materials highlighting individuals and communities consisting of identities beyond East Asia.  

This guide should not be regarded as an exhaustive list. There are materials related to Asian & Asian American life beyond the borderlands held at UA Libraries Special Collections that are not listed here. Additionally, as collections are acquired and processed, we anticipate that this guide will grow to reflect these new areas of knowledge. We urge you to contact our archivists for any further questions.  

This guide was created by Graduate Assistant Zoe Harrison in collaboration with Special Collections staff.

Land Acknowledgement

We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’odham and the Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the University strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign Native Nations and Indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community service.