Tejano religion and ethnicity : San Antonio, 1821-1860 /

Matovina's brief work is a study of Texans of Mexican or Spanish descent in San Antonio and of the interplay between their religion and ethnicity in the context of historic waves of change between 1821 and 1860. It seeks to challenge theories of unilateral assimilation, pointing out that the Tejanos were not really immigrants to the US but rather residents of an area that the US first conquered and then annexed. The text is broken into three chronological divisions: the Mexican period (1821-36); the Texas Republic (1836-45); and the postannexation years following 1845. Throughout each of these periods, Tejano loyalties were frequently divided between their Texas homeland and their Mexican cultural heritage. Despite its brevity, the work is frequently redundant. Suitable largely for collections strong in ethnic studies or Texana. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. Andrew; Franklin and Marshall College