San Antonio College Library

Deep in the American Southwest, in the mountains and river valleys of northern New Mexico, a distinctive group of people have made their home for four hundred years. Descendants of the settlers who moved into this most northern periphery of New Spain late in the sixteenth century, they exhibit clear cultural differences from other Spanish-speaking people of the Borderlands. In this carefully researched, clearly written book, Richard L. Nostrand interprets...

In Competence in Performance, Charles L. Briggs explores the nature of the gift of oral performance and the competence that underlies that ability. His study focuses on rural Hispanic communities in northern New Mexico. There, individuals, particularly older people, are highly respected for their ability to use language both beautifully and persuasively, prompting their listeners to look beyond appearances to grasp the deeper meaning of the performance....