A Companion to Latina/o Studies

A Companion to Latina/o Studies is a collection of 45 original essays written by leading scholars in the Latina/o studies field. These writers explore themes spanning great depths of creative scholarship, and the essays cover everything from theories of latinismo, immigration, education, language and religion; to discussions on political and economic perspectives, and race, class, gender, and sexuality. The volume also explores broader questions encompassing history, identity, public representations, and cultural expression within the Latino community. The racialization of African and Native American heritages is examined as well. The Companion provides thoughtful insights into what is now undeniably the largest minority in the United States, and is an essential resource for all scholars in the growing field of Latina/o Studies.

Notes on Contributors. Editors’ Foreword. Acknowledgments. PART I: LATINIDADES:. 1. Marks of the Chicana Corpus: An Intervention in the Universality Debate: Helena María Viramontes (Cornell University). 2. The New Latin Nation: Immigration and the Hispanic Population of the United States: Alejandro Portes (Princeton University). 3. “Dime con quién hablas, y te diré quién eres”: Linguistic (In)security and Latina/o Unity: Ana Celia Zentella (University of California, San Diego). 4. (Re)constructing Latinidad: The Challenge of Latina/o Studies: Frances R. Aparicio (Formerly University of Illinois at Chicago). 5. The Name Game: Locating Latinas/os, Latins, and Latin Americans in the US Popular Music Landscape: Deborah Pacini Hernández (Tufts University). 6. Cuando Dios y Usted Quiere: Latina/o Studies Between Religious Powers and Social Thought: David Carrasco (Harvard University). 7. Latina/o Cultural Expressions: A View of US Society Through the Eyes of the Subaltern: Edna Acosta–Belén (State University of New York). PART II: ACTOS: CRITICAL PRACTICES:. 8. José Limón, the Devil and the Dance: José E. Limón (University of Texas at Austin). 9. The Everyday Civil War: Migrant Labor, Capital, and Latina/o Studies: Nicholas De Genova (Columbia University). 10. The Powers of Women’s Words: Oral Tradition and Performance Art: Yolanda Broyles–González (University of Arizona). 11. Language and Other Lethal Weapons: Cultural Politics and the Rites of Children as Translators of Culture: Antonio I. Castañeda (St. Mary’s University). 12. Looking for Papi: Longing and Desire Among Chicano Gay Men: Tomás Almaguer (San Francisco State University). 13. On Becoming: Nelly Rosario (Columbia University). PART III: VIDAS: HERSTORIES/HISTORIES: . 14. Of Heretics and Interlopers: Arturo Madrid (Trinity University). 15. Coloring Class: Racial Constructions in Twentieth–Century Chicana/o Historiography: Vicki L. Ruiz (University of California, Irvine). 16. “El Louie” by José Montoya: An Appreciation: Raúl Villa (Occidental College). 17. Preservation Matters: Research, Community, and the Archive: Chon A. Noriega (University of California, Los Angeles). 18. The Star in My Compass: Virginia Sánchez Korrol (Brooklyn College, CUNY). 19. “Y Que Pasara Con Jovenes Como Miguel Fernández?”: Education, Immigration, and the Future of Latinas/os in the United States: Pedro A. Noguera (New York University). PART IV: EN LA LUCHA: SITES OF STRUGGLE:. 20. Latinas/os and the Elusive Quest for Equal Education: Sonia Nieto (University of Massachusetts, Amherst). 21. The Moral Monster: Hispanics Recasting Honor and Respectability Behind Bars: Patricia Fernández–Kelly (Princeton University). 22. A Rebellious Philosophy Born in East LA: Gerald P. López (Formerly New York University). 23. Latinas/os at the Threshold of the Information Age: Telecommunications Challenges and Opportunities: Jorge Reina Schement (Penn State University). 24. Conceptualizing the Latina Experience in Care Work: Mary Romero (Arizona State University). 25. Surviving AIDS in an Uneven World: Latina/o Studies for a Brown Epidemic: Carlos Ulises Decena (Rutgers University). 26. Post–Movimiento: The Contemporary (Re)Generation of Chicana/o Art: Tomás Ybarra–Frausto (Independent scholar). 27. “God Bless the Law, He Is White”: Legal, Local, and International Politics of Latina/o and Black Desegregation Cases in Post–World War II California and Texas: Neil Foley (University of Texas). PART V: MESTIZAJE: REVISITING RACE:. 28. Latinas/os and the Mestizo Racial Heritage of Mexican Americans: Martha Menchaca (University of Texas at Austin). 29. Looking at that Middle Ground: Racial Mixing as Panacea?: Miriam Jiménez Román (Afro–Latina/o Project, New York City). 30. Color Matters: Latina/o Racial Identities and Life Chances: Ginetta E. B. Candelario (Smith College). 31. Between Blackness and Latinidad in the Hip Hop Zone: Raquel Z. Rivera (Hunter College). 32. Afro–Latinas/os and the Racial Wall: Silvio Torres–Saillant (Syracuse University). 33. The (W)rite to Remember: Indígena as Scribe 2004–5 (an excerpt): Cherríe Moraga (Stanford University). PART VI: IDENTIDADES: PRODUCING SUBJECTIVITIES: . 34. “How I Learned to Love Salseros When My Hair Was A Mess” by Edwin Torres: A Comment: Edwin Torres. 35. Reflections on Thirty Years of Critical Practice in Chicana/o Cultural Studies: Yvonne Yarbro–Bejarano (Stanford University). 36. Social Aesthetics and the Transnational Imaginary: Ramón Saldívar (Stanford University). 37. The Taíno Identity Movement Among Caribbean Latinas/os in the United States: Gabriel Haslip–Viera (City University of New York). 38. Looking Good: Frances Negrón–Muntaner (Columbia University). 39. “Chico, what does it feel like to be a problem?”: The Transmission of Brownness: José Esteban Muñoz (New York University). 40. “Fantasy Heritage”: Tracking Latina Bloodlines: Rosa Linda Fregoso (University of Southern California). PART VII: EN EL MUNDO: TRANSNATIONAL CONNECTIONS: . 41. Latinas/os and Latin America: Topics, Destinies, Disciplines: Román de la Campa (University of Pennsylvania). 42. Latinas/os and the (Re)racializing of US Society and Politics: Suzanne Oboler (University of Illinois at Chicago). 43. Refugees or Economic Immigrants? Immigration from Latin America and the Politics of US Refugee Policy: María Cristina García (Cornell University). 44. Inter–American Ethnography: Tracking Salvadoran Transnationality at the Borders of Latina/o and Latin American Studies: Elana Zilberg (University of California, San Diego). 45. From the Borderlands to the Transnational? Critiquing Empire in the Twenty–First Century: María Josefina Saldaña–Portillo (New York University). Index

Juan Flores is currently Professor of Latino Studies in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University. For many years he has taught Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at the City University of New York (CUNY) and in the Sociology Program at CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of Divided Borders, La venganza de Cortijo, From Bomba to Hip–Hop , and Poetry in East Germany , and co–editor of On Edge: The Crisis of Contemporary Latin American Culture . Among his other publications are the translations of Memoirs of Bernardo Vega and Cortijo’s Wake/El entierro de Cortijo by Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá. A Chicano scholar, Renato Rosaldo is Lucy Stern Professor Emeritus at Stanford where he taught for many years, and he now teaches at NYU where he was founding Director of the Latino Studies Program. His books include Ilongot Headhunting, 1883–1974 and Culture and Truth . A collection of his essays, Renato Rosaldo: Ensayos en antropología crítica , was recently published in Mexico. He has edited a collection, Cultural Citizenship in Island Southeast Asia , and also co–edited collections, The Incas and the Aztecs, 1400–1800 , Creativity/Anthropology , and The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader . Written in English and Spanish, his first collection of poetry, Prayer to Spider Woman/Rezo a la mujer araña , won an American Book Award, 2004. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

"[The] present volume provides researchers and academics with detailed information on a wide range of issues. It offers material for study both to the growing numbers in the academic community undertaking research on Latin American affairs as well as for sociologists in general.... The information to be gleaned from this volume will more than repay the price of £95." ( Reference Reviews , April 2009) "An amazing collection of original essays that displays the maturity, complexity, and diversity of Latina/o Studies today. Creative, bold, and provocative, these writings mark the transformation of the field into the hands of a new generation of interdisciplinary scholars." George J. Sanchez, University of Southern California