Full Description
Honorable Mention, Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award, presented by the Racial and Ethnic Minorities Section of the American Sociological Association, 2015
With Mexican Americans constituting a large and growing segment of U.S. society, their assimilation trajectory has become a constant source of debate. Some believe Mexican Americans are following the path of European immigrants toward full assimilation into whiteness, while others argue that they remain racialized as nonwhite. Drawing on extensive interviews with Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants in Texas, Dowling's research challenges common assumptions about what informs racial labeling for this population. Her interviews demonstrate that for Mexican Americans, racial ideology is key to how they assert their identities as either in or outside the bounds of whiteness. Emphasizing the link between racial ideology and racial identification, Dowling offers an insightful narrative that highlights the complex and highly contingent nature of racial identity.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. The Question of Race
Chapter 2. "I'm white 'cause I'm an American, right?": The Meanings of Whiteness for Mexican Americans
Chapter 3. "We were never white": Mexican Americans Identifying Outside the Bounds of Whiteness
Chapter 4. "In Mexico I was . . .": Translating Racial Identities Across the Border
Chapter 5. "That's what we call ourselves here": Mexican Americans and Mexican Immigrants Negotiating Racial Labeling in Daily Life
Chapter 6. Re-envisioning Our Understanding of Latino Racial Identity
Appendix: Notes on Methodology
Notes
References
Index
