Caroline Miles
From March 13 through April 29, the “Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy” exhibition will be available for viewing at the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg. To further expand on this topic, the museum will host Caroline Miles, an associate professor at UTRGV, who will present “From Vaquero to Cowboy, Free-Grazer to Barbed Wire: Contested Borders” Sunday, March 18, at 2 p.m.
Miles will discuss how the vaquero is part of a largely forgotten history of rich and contested relationships between the U.S. and Mexico. This presentation will also examine the controversy surrounding the UTRGV mascot, the vaquero. “Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy” will be available for viewing after the presentation which will feature photographs with “bilingual narrative text that reveal the muscle, sweat, and drama that went into roping a calf in thick brush or breaking a wild horse in the saddle.”
Miles is an associate professor of English and the Coordinator of Border Studies at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. She received a bachelor of arts in American Studies from the University of Wales in the U.K., and master and doctorate degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi. She has published numerous articles on global capitalism and the South as well as on dime novels and Latin American feminism. Her current research examines how global borders quarantine and distract from racial, economic and national problems. She is also the recipient of the prestigious UT System Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award.
Sunday Speaker Series is included in the fee for regular museum admission. FRIENDS of the Museum are admitted free as a benefit of FRIENDship.
This program is made possible with generous support from the Carmen C. Guerra Endowment. Mrs. Guerra was deeply committed to supporting educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley. This named endowment was created at the museum by her family to honor her memory and to continue her commitment to providing opportunities for education to the community.
About Museum of South Texas History
The Museum of South Texas History is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is located in downtown Edinburg at 200 North Closner Boulevard on the Hidalgo County Courthouse square. Hours of operation are from 1 p.m.–5 p.m. Sunday and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday. Founded in 1967 as the Hidalgo County Historical Museum in the 1910 Hidalgo County Jail, the museum has grown over the decades through a series of expansions to occupy a full city block. In 2003, following the completion of a 22,500 square foot expansion, the museum was renamed the Museum of South Texas History to better reflect its regional scope. Today, the museum preserves and presents the borderland heritage of South Texas and Northeastern Mexico through its permanent collection and the Margaret H. McAllen Memorial Archives and exhibits spanning prehistory through the 20th century. For more information about MOSTHistory, including becoming a FRIEND, visit MOSTHistory.org, like us on Facebook, follow on Twitter, find on Google+ or call +1-956-383-6911.