The Socorro Mission

El Paso is an archetypical part of what many North Americans consider the Old West. Though not as famous as the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone Park, El Paso is strongly associated in the American imaginary with western expansion and adventures among wild lands and primitive peoples (Fox, 1999; King, 2004). In U.S. cultural mythology, American history is the glorious march of Euro-American culture from its east-coast founding by the Pilgrims to its culmination on the golden shores of California (Zinn, 2003). What this triumphal history usually neglects is the struggles of nonwhite, non-Anglo, often nonmale Others (Limerick, 1988). Since El Paso history is also part of American history and the contemporary residents of El Paso are primarily of Latin and indigenous descent, its history must be rethought from multiple angles.