Intimate Frontiers by Hurtado: Each Newcomer Transformed California, the Exotic into California, the Familiar
First Short Paper:
Hurtado says in his book intimate Frontiers that “each newcomer transformed California the exotic into California the familiar, a long established pattern that yet continues” (133). I somewhat agree with Hurtado’s statement that everyone who migrated to California for whatever reason tried to convert California into a place that looks familiar, each and every person left their mark on California, and this is why California today is a blend of different cultures and different races. Even today we see a lot of immigrants try to fit in, in order to fit in they try to change things, make their temples, churches, mosques, they make their own community centers, they do this so that they don’t feel too alienated, they try to turn it into something familiar. This is what people back then did; they tried to turn the exotic into familiar. It is normal that people who migrate to other places they try to turn it into something familiar, something that doesn’t look or feel too different from what they are used to of, they try to make changes according to their needs, their beliefs and their traditions; that are what happened back then, people tried to introduce and impose their religious and social ideas. There were very few women in California so people brought women from their own races into California to establish families here; the exotic Indian women were replaced by familiar women. The Native people who were living here had their own traditions and their own ways of living, those ways were a little exotic, as Hurtado explains in his book Intimate Frontiers that the Indians had very different ideas about sex, they were totally okay with the concept of homosexuality and the idea of sex before marriage, on the other hand Spaniards had different concepts of sex. Homosexuality and sex before marriage were considered sins by the Spaniards. These differences of concepts and ideas created tension between the natives and Spaniards. According to
Hurtado says in his book intimate Frontiers that “each newcomer transformed California the exotic into California the familiar, a long established pattern that yet continues” (133). I somewhat agree with Hurtado’s statement that everyone who migrated to California for whatever reason tried to convert California into a place that looks familiar, each and every person left their mark on California, and this is why California today is a blend of different cultures and different races. Even today we see a lot of immigrants try to fit in, in order to fit in they try to change things, make their temples, churches, mosques, they make their own community centers, they do this so that they don’t feel too alienated, they try to turn it into something familiar. This is what people back then did; they tried to turn the exotic into familiar. It is normal that people who migrate to other places they try to turn it into something familiar, something that doesn’t look or feel too different from what they are used to of, they try to make changes according to their needs, their beliefs and their traditions; that are what happened back then, people tried to introduce and impose their religious and social ideas. There were very few women in California so people brought women from their own races into California to establish families here; the exotic Indian women were replaced by familiar women. The Native people who were living here had their own traditions and their own ways of living, those ways were a little exotic, as Hurtado explains in his book Intimate Frontiers that the Indians had very different ideas about sex, they were totally okay with the concept of homosexuality and the idea of sex before marriage, on the other hand Spaniards had different concepts of sex. Homosexuality and sex before marriage were considered sins by the Spaniards. These differences of concepts and ideas created tension between the natives and Spaniards. According to