Challenging Regionalism: Middle Border Populism, Settler Colonialism, and Transnational Networks

This presentation examines the Populist movement of the late nineteenth century through the lens of Alonzo Wardall, a key but understudied figure in Middle Border Populism. Traditionally, scholars have approached Populism within rigid regional frameworks that emphasize the South and West, often neglecting the distinct dynamics of the Middle Border—a transnational space bridging the United States and Canada. This study challenges these conventional narratives by exploring the movement’s evolution within the context of settler colonialism and transnational economic networks.

Wardall’s fifty-year diary collection provides a unique vantage point to reassess how Populists in the Middle Border engaged with cooperative capitalism as both a response to and a product of the settler-colonial economic order. His work organizing farmer cooperatives and advocating for economic reforms reveals the contradictions inherent in settler colonial expansion—where farmers, initially beneficiaries of land dispossession, later found themselves marginalized by the financial structures that facilitated their migration westward. This presentation argues that understanding these complexities provides a richer perspective on Populist demands for economic democracy and grassroots empowerment.

By situating Populism within a borderlands framework, this study highlights the cross-border exchanges of ideas and activism that shaped agrarian reform movements across North America. Wardall’s extensive travels and cooperative initiatives in Canada offer fresh insights into the movement’s transnational dimensions, underscoring the fluidity of political and economic ideologies across national lines.

Finally, this presentation connects historical Populism to its modern iterations, arguing that the movement’s rhetorical and organizational strategies persist in contemporary populist discourse. In reframing Middle Border Populism as a transnational and settler-colonial phenomenon, this research broadens our understanding of the movement’s legacy and its relevance to current political dynamics.