The reservation

The Malpais reservation in New Mexico is an area of “… five hundred and sixty thousand square kilometres, divided into four distinct Sub-Reservations, each surrounded by a high-tension wire fence.” (Chapter 6, 73%). More than five thousand kilometers of strong high-voltage fence surrounds the territory. The indigenous reserve is described as a place “which, owing to unfavourable climatic or geological conditions, or poverty of natural resources, has not been worth the expense of civilizing.” (Chapter 11, 48%).

The approximately sixty thousand Natives and half-bloods who live on the reservation are occasionally visited by the overseers, otherwise they live completely separated. They have no connection to the civilized outside world and cannot escape:...