'Why do your people do things that just aren't right'? Latinas/os and race relations at a community clinic in el Nuevo south. Issue 6 (26th April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Deeb-Sossa, Natalia
• Is Part Of: Journal of ethnic and migration studies. Volume 43:Issue 6(2017)
• Page Start: 1009
• Page End: 1025
• Publication Date: 2017-04-26
• Subjects: El nuevo South -- racial conflict -- othering; Ethnic relations -- Periodicals; Race relations -- Periodicals; Emigration and immigration -- Periodicals; Assimilation (Sociology) -- Periodicals; 305.8005
• DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2016.1220291
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1369-183X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In el nuevo South, the immigration of Latinas/os complicates our understanding of relations between races. Drawing on 18 months of participant observation, I explore how the employees of a community clinic decided to regulate health-care access and how race and the perception of 'who is entitled' figured into their practices. My study shows how racial conflicts influence access to public resources, such as health care, and how those conflicts stem from constructions of citizenship, social membership, and belonging. This article sheds light on race relations in a new immigrant destination, explores workplace conditions that might incite racial conflict, and highlights racialised constructions of citizenship and belonging. It concludes that the resulting stressful work conditions at the clinic, lack of resources, and threat from 'the other' fomented racial conflict between African-Americans and Latinas.