1. ^aDepartment of Sociology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
2. ^bDepartment of Chicano Studies, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
3. ^cDepartment of Sociology, Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, TX

Abstract

In this paper we report preliminary findings of a study that examines the historical formation of the principally Mexicano West Side of San Antonio. Our thesis is dialectical: a cultural point – counterpoint of the "socially deforming (barrioizing) and the culturally affirming (barriological) spatial practices" (Villa, 2000, 8) that have characterized the relationship between Anglos and Mexicans since the Mexican-American War of 1846–1848 and the Anglo conquest of the northern area of Mexico now known as South Texas, a relationship that has served to frame both groups and to re-enforce respective cultural identities. By taking a historical view of the relationship, we are attempting to "broadly identify a historical continuity between past and present circumstances influencing the production of barrio social space and its representations" (Villa, 2000, 8). The authors argue that barriology offers a method for understanding neighborhood formation and maintenance in a time when the dynamics of this and maintenance have become central issues in community research, thus they address the following questions:

• Is there something unique about the Mexicano community in the United States that promotes social cohesion and that can therefore account for the unexpected population health status of the Paradox?
• Is there something about the formation of social capital in the Mexicano community that can be understood by taking a barriological approach to the study of that community?