1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910813402103321

Autore

Dowling Julie A. <1975->

Titolo

Mexican Americans and the question of race / / Julie A. Dowling

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Austin, Texas : , : University of Texas Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-292-75402-7

Edizione

[First edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (173 p.)

Disciplina

305.868/72073

Soggetti

Mexican Americans - Race identity

Mexican Americans - Social conditions

United States Race relations

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

The question of race -- "I'm white 'cause I'm an American, right?": the meanings of whiteness for Mexican Americans -- "We were never white": Mexican Americans identifying outside the bounds of whiteness -- "In Mexico I was . . .": translating racial identities across the border -- "That's what we call ourselves here": Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants negotiating racial labeling in daily life -- Re-envisioning our understanding of Latino racial identity.

Sommario/riassunto

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.