Through fascinating vignettes and case studies, this unique text illustrates how Yucatecan migrants actively maintain social ties across borders. It also paints a vivid picture of the people and their lives. It places them in the context of current U.S. immigration policy and mesmerizes students by bringing them up to speed on one of the most crucial issues facing the U.S. today.
Through fascinating vignettes and case studies, this unique text illustrates how Yucatecan migrants actively maintain social ties across borders. It also paints a vivid picture of the people and their lives. It places them in the context of current U.S. immigration policy and mesmerizes students by bringing them up to speed on one of the most crucial issues facing the U.S. today.
A historical overview of Mexican Americans' social and economic experiences in Texas For hundreds of years, Mexican Americans in Texas have fought against political oppression and exclusion—in courtrooms, in schools, at the ballot box, and beyond. Through a detailed exploration of this long battle for equality, this book illuminates critical moments of both struggle and triumph in the Mexican American experience. Martha Menchaca begins with the Spanish settlement of Texas, exploring how Mexican Americans’ racial heritage limited their incorporation into society after the territory’s annexation. She then illustrates their political struggles in the nineteenth century as they tried to assert their legal rights of citizenship and retain possession of their land, and goes on to explore their fight, in the twentieth century, against educational segregation, jury exclusion, and housing covenants. It was only in 1967, she shows, that the collective pressure placed on the state government by Mexican American and African American activists led to the beginning of desegregation. Menchaca concludes with a look at the crucial roles that Mexican Americans have played in national politics, education, philanthropy, and culture, while acknowledging the important work remaining to be done in the struggle for equality.
A unique panoramic survey of ethnic groups throughout the United States that explores the diverse communities in every region, state, and big city. Race, ethnicity, and immigrants' lives and identity: these are all key topics that Americans need to study in order to fully understand U.S. culture, society, politics, economics, and history. Learning about "place" through our own historical and contemporary neighborhoods is an ideal way to better grasp the important role of race and ethnicity in the United States. This reference work comprehensively covers both historical and contemporary ethnic and immigrant neighborhoods through A–Z entries that explore the places and people in every major U.S. region and neighborhood. America's Changing Neighborhoods: An Exploration of Diversity uniquely combines the history of ethnic groups with the history of communities, offering an interdisciplinary examination of the nation's makeup. It gives readers perspective and insight into ethnicity and race based on the geography of enclaves across the nation, in regions and in specific cities or localized areas within a city. Among the entries are nearly 200 "neighborhood biographies" that provide histories of local communities and their ethnic groups. Images, sidebars, cross-references at the end of each entry, and cross-indexing of entries serve readers conducting preliminary as well as in-depth research. The book's state-by-state entries also offer population data, and an appendix of ancestry statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau details ethnic and racial diversity.
Immigration Structures and Immigrant Lives provides a concise, comprehensive, interdisciplinary introduction to United States immigration and immigrants. The book is presented in two parts. Part I addresses the history, structure, dynamics, and politics of United States immigration from colonial times to the present. Part II focuses on the lives of immigrants with separate chapters examining the immigrant struggle simply to live, the challenges and opportunities of work in America, the different beliefs and commitments that fortify immigrants in their new lives, and the many different ways in which immigrants come to belong in the United States. The introduction and epilogue bracket the United States experience within a broader consideration of human mobility and current global migration trends and issues. Tables, case examples, and a timeline help illuminate both the general shape of immigration and the details of immigrant life. This text is accompanied by an ancillary package of digital tables and illustrations in order to enhance the learning experience of both the instructors and students.
Clandestine Crossings delivers an in-depth description and analysis of the experiences of working-class Mexican migrants at the beginning of the twenty-first century as they enter the United States surreptitiously with the help of paid guides known as coyotes. Drawing on ethnographic observations of crossing conditions in the borderlands of South Texas, as well as interviews with migrants, coyotes, and border officials, Spener details how migrants and coyotes work together to evade apprehension by U.S. law enforcement authorities as they cross the border. In so doing, he seeks to dispel many of the myths that misinform public debate about undocumented immigration to the United States. The hiring of a coyote, Spener argues, is one of the principal strategies that Mexican migrants have developed in response to intensified U.S. border enforcement. Although this strategy is typically portrayed in the press as a sinister organized-crime phenomenon, Spener argues that it is better understood as the resistance of working-class Mexicans to an economic model and set of immigration policies in North America that increasingly resemble an apartheid system. In the absence of adequate employment opportunities in Mexico and legal mechanisms for them to work in the United States, migrants and coyotes draw on their social connections and cultural knowledge to stage successful border crossings in spite of the ever greater dangers placed in their path by government authorities.
Immigration is a topic that is as important among anthropologists as it is the general public. Almost every culture has experienced adaptation and assimilation when immigrating to a new country and culture; usually leaving for what is perceived as a "better life". Not only does this diaspora change the country of adoption, but also the country of origin. Many large nations in the world have absorbed, and continue to absorb, large numbers of immigrants. The foreseeable future will see a continuation of large-scale immigration, as many countries experience civil war and secessionist pressures. Currently, there is no reference work that describes the impact upon the immigrants and the immigrant societies relevant to the world's cultures and provides an overview of important topics in the world's diasporas. The encyclopedia consists of two volumes covering three main sections: Diaspora Overviews covers over 20 ethnic groups that have experienced voluntary or forced immigration. These essays discuss the history behind the social, economic, and political reasons for leaving the original countries, and the cultures in the new places; Topics discusses the impact and assimilation that the immigrant cultures experience in their adopted cultures, including the arts they bring, the struggles they face, and some of the cities that are in the forefront of receiving immigrant cultures; Diaspora Communities include over 60 portraits of specific diaspora communities. Each portrait follows a standard outline to facilitate comparisons. The Encyclopedia of Diasporas can be used both to gain a general understanding of immigration and immigrants, and to find out about particular cultures, topics and communities. It will prove of great value to researchers and students, curriculum developers, teachers, and government officials. It brings together the disciplines of anthropology, social studies, political studies, international studies, and immigrant and immigration studies.
Ten years ago the topic of human smuggling and trafficking was relatively new for academic researchers, though the practice itself is very old. Since the first edition of this volume was published, much has changed globally, directly impacting the phenomenon of human smuggling. Migrant smuggling and human trafficking are now more entrenched than ever in many regions, with efforts to combat them both largely unsuccessful and often counterproductive. This book explores human smuggling in several forms and regions, globally examining its deep historic, social, economic, and cultural roots and its broad political consequences. Contributors to the updated and expanded edition consider the trends and events of the past several years, especially in light of developments after 9/11 and the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They also reflect on the moral economy of human smuggling and trafficking, the increasing percentage of the world's asylum seekers who escape political violence only by being smuggled, and the implications of human smuggling in a warming world.
Cultural Diversity in Neuropsychological Assessment provides a platform for clinical neuropsychologists, psychologists, and trainees to bridge cultures and speak to each other about the ethnically diverse communities they serve throughout the world. It allows readers to peek into their clinical filing cabinets and examine how they worked with diverse individuals from indigenous and migrant communities of Arab, Asian, European, Israeli, Latin American and Caribbean, Persian, Russian, Sub-Saharan African, and North American origin. The book first reviews important foundations for working with diverse communities that include key knowledge, awareness, skills, and action orientation. It then provides a collection of cases for each cultural geographic region. Each section begins with an introductory chapter to provide a bird’s eye view of the historical and current state of clinical and research practice of neuropsychology in that region. Then, each chapter focuses on a specific community by providing surface and deep-level cultural background knowledge from the authors’ unique perspectives. A case study is then covered in depth to practically showcase an evaluation with someone from that community. This is followed by a summary of key strategic points, lessons learned, references, further readings, and a glossary of culture specific terminology used throughout the chapter. In the end, the appendix provides a list of culturally relevant tests and norms for some communities. This ground-breaking peer-reviewed handbook provides an invaluable clinical resource for neuropsychologists, psychologists, and trainees. It increases self-reflection about multicultural awareness and knowledge, highlights practical ways to increase cultural understanding in neuropsychological and psychological assessments, and sparks further discussion for professional and personal growth in this area.
This Handbook offers a comprehensive collection of essays that cover essential features of geographical mobility, from internal migration, to international migration, to urbanization, to the adaptation of migrants in their destinations. Part I of the collection introduces the range of theoretical perspectives offered by several social science disciplines, while also examining the crucial relationship between internal and international migration. Part II takes up methods, ranging from how migration data are best collected to contemporary techniques for analyzing such data. Part III of the handbook contains summaries of present trends across all world regions. Part IV rounds out the volume with several contributions assessing pressing issues in contemporary policy areas. The volume’s editor Michael J. White has spent a career studying the pattern and process of internal and international migration, urbanization and population distribution in a wide variety of settings, from developing societies to advanced economies. In this Handbook he brings together contributors from all parts of the world, gathering in this one volume both geographical and substantive expertise of the first rank. The Handbook will be a key reference source for established scholars, as well as an invaluable high-level introduction to the most relevant topics in the field for emerging scholars.
