"Looking Mexican": Indigenous and non-Indigenous Latina/o Immigrants and the Racialization of Illegality in the Midwest. (3rd December 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- "Looking Mexican": Indigenous and non-Indigenous Latina/o Immigrants and the Racialization of Illegality in the Midwest. (3rd December 2019)
- Main Title:
- "Looking Mexican": Indigenous and non-Indigenous Latina/o Immigrants and the Racialization of Illegality in the Midwest
- Authors:
- Gómez Cervantes, Andrea
- Abstract:
- Abstract: Immigration laws, judiciary hearings, and enforcement strategies produce the racialization of illegality, linking "illegality" to homogenized and stereotypical images of "Mexican, " "Hispanic, " and "Latina/o" origin. Immigration scholars have shown the transgressions produced by the racialization of illegality on Latina/o immigrants and non-immigrants who fit these stereotypes. How do Latina/o immigrants of different ethnic origins navigate the racialization of illegality? What strategies do they employ to manage risks associated with illegality? Through 61 interviews with Indigenous-origin and non-Indigenous Latina/o immigrants in Kansas between 2016 to 2019, this study examines the salience of race and the active role that the body plays within Latina/o immigrants' experiences with the immigration regime. I find that immigrants actively employ the body as a resource to navigate illegality, particularly in a context where Latina/os make up a smaller share of a white-majority population. The racialization of illegality brings social divisions within Latina/o groups, reproducing centuries-old systems of oppression where whiteness is equated with protections given to citizens, while "looking Mexican" or "Hispanic" leaves Indigenous-origin immigrants and non-white Latina/os at the hands of immigration control. This research contributes to scholars' call to further explore the role of race and the body in immigration processes.
- Is Part Of:
- Social problems. Volume 68:Number 1(2021)
- Journal:
- Social problems
- Issue:
- Volume 68:Number 1(2021)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 68, Issue 1 (2021)
- Year:
- 2021
- Volume:
- 68
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2021-0068-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 100
- Page End:
- 117
- Publication Date:
- 2019-12-03
- Subjects:
- immigration -- race/ethnicity -- Latina/os -- illegality -- Midwest
Social problems -- Periodicals
301 - Journal URLs:
- http://socpro.oxfordjournals.org/ ↗
http://www.oxfordjournals.org ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1093/socpro/spz048 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0037-7791
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 8318.136000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 15747.xml