Beyond the borderland: Incursion of the State-Nation, NAFTA and external control within the Mexican-American mango industry

• Main Author: Robert R. Álvarez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Autonoma de Baja California 2002-07-01
• Series: Estudios Fronterizos
• Subjects: Actividad transnacional; Departamento de agricultura; Control y certificación de mangos
• Online Access: http://ref.uabc.mx/ojs/index.php/ref/article/view/280

Using the case of the US-Mexico Mango Industry this paper explores the engagement of the nation-state in transnational activity through the activities of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). US control and certification of mangos imported into the United States is part of a broader system that includes NAFTA and historic labor immigration inducing new markets for “ethnic products”. This is part of a broader hemispheric system linked to US prerogatives. Although the USDA (like other border agencies) controls the entrance of commodities at the US-Mexico geopolitical border, the encroachment of this agency into Mexico and its offshore control of commodity production and deistribution is not often a subject of investigation. This paper traces the development of the current USDA certification of mangos for US import, focusing on the hot water treatment of mangos and its controlling effects at local sites of production and distribution.