Afred Hurtado's work Sex, Gender, and Culture in Old California was released in 1999 by the University of New Mexico Press. The book examines how gender, sex, and cultural problems have shaped people's lives on the American Frontier over a 90-year period, from the 1760s to the 1850s. The book's ideas allowed for an analysis of the problems' particular impact on the American, Spanish, and Mexican communities. Hurtado concentrated on the lives of individuals living in San Francisco, on ships, and in mining camps. In these settings, the author sourced the information he needed to reinforce the central themes from the marriages, family lives, and courtships.
Scholars who are interested in the gender theory also utilize the theoretical approach that Hurtado took. However, his decision to use California as a frontier made the gender theory to be more complex. Crossing the U.S the borders of the US and getting into the history of Latin America made him familiar with the historiographical account on the two communities. In the presentation of the facts, the author is aware of the cultural and racial diversities that are evident within the communities in California. Historically, California has had a divide between the White and the Indians, a situation that is made more complex with the presence of the Anglos, Hispanics, and the indigenous community. Hurtado successively captures this differences in the racial composition through borrowing the historical concepts of Latin American historians particularly the ones who that delved into the Mexican community.
The intimate frontiers succeeded in portraying the true picture of how culture, sex, and gender shaped the regional history. The author made a keen observation of the Californian history since the time that the missions were established to the period of the gold rush. Employing an exhaustive account of the events in this era would be tiresome. He, therefore, opted to use vignettes that were necessary for the provision of a framework to guide his theoretical framework. Hurtado frequently visited the theme of family formation, an idea that is prominent in the focus of the heterosexual relationships and the challenges that homosexuality poses on the traditional family. The historical and the authors account of the imbalances in gender distribution helps to explain why the unusual heterosexual activities were taking place at a time when the society was not ready to accept such behaviors that were considered as misconducts, hence punishable.
From the arguments presented by the author, the Anglos were only capable of dominating the region because of the establishment of good families. In California, men population was higher compared to that of women, resulting in a big challenge in the formation of families. Hurtado presented scenarios in which stiff competitions for women were evident. The competition is behind issues such as Sergeant Ferrer Vallejo claiming that the baby girl was his prize after a successful birth. Hurtado shed more light on the issue by letting the readers know that the Sergeant was successful after exercising 14 years of patience (Hurtado, 254). The gold rush period women were luckier and could choose their mates without struggles. Besides, women could also charge high for services offered such as cooking and laundry.
Hurtado also succeeded in bringing out the form of violence that characterized the Californian community. He used sources that provided a profound understanding of the violent activities and the hardships that people had to go through. Attempts to resolve the differences through the use of influential and respectable people are also narrated. The decision to incorporate the concept makes him a prolific writer capable of connecting with the community under consideration. He can, therefore, be considered as being creative, not just in the presentation of the ideas and the historical events but also is suggesting solutions to the problems that the society is ailing from.
Conclusively, Hurtado managed to capture the historical records of the Spanish, the Americans and the Mexican community in as far as gender, sex and culture are concerned. One does not have to go back to the historical accounts of the communities in this era to fully comprehend the people's ways of life. Instead, the author's account presents a well-detailed chronology of events as he concentrates more the central themes in the book. Hurtado's account is of utmost importance in the history of the Americans in as far as the myths of exoticism and the legendary deeds are concerned. He used his creativity to ensure that the gender theory explained the records of the Californian history. The readability and the easy flow of ideas make the book to be suitable for school reading. Learners get equipped with the knowledge of the research process as the author begins with how he gathered the relevant information from the accounts of people like Amelia Kuchinsky who passed on after a failed abortion.
Work Cited
Albert, Hurtado L. Intimate Frontiers: Sex, Gender, and Culture in Old California. UNM Press, 1999.
