"What makes this book remarkable is the quality of the in-depth, ethnographic data the author acquires and uses to provide revealing insights into how both Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants experience the often rough road to mutual understanding and respect. This is a must read for anyone interested in Latinos, immigration, culture and social change, and the future of Califormia and the nation." -- The Americas "This book offers a provocative analysis of how ethnic identity is constructed and explores the significance Mexican ancestry plays in the lives of Mexican Americans. . . . It is an authoritative text." -- Martha Menchaca, Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin

On the surface, Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants to the United States seem to share a common cultural identity but often make uneasy neighbors. Discrimination and assimilationist policies have influenced generations of Mexican Americans so that some now fear that the status they have gained by assimilating into American society will be jeopardized by Spanish-speaking newcomers. Other Mexican Americans, however, adopt a position of group solidarity and work to better the social conditions and educational opportunities of Mexican immigrants.

Focusing on the Mexican-origin, working-class city of La Puente in Los Angeles County, California, this book examines Mexican Americans' everyday attitudes toward and interactions with Mexican immigrants-- a topic that has so far received little serious study. Using in-depth interviews, participant observations, school board meeting minutes, and other historical documents, Gilda Ochoa investigates how Mexican Americans are negotiatingtheir relationships with immigrants at an interpersonal level in the places where they shop, worship, learn, and raise their families. This research into daily lives highlights the centrality of women in the process of negotiating and building communities and sheds new light on identity formation and group mobilization in the U.S. and on educational issues, especially bilingual education. It also complements previous studies on the impact of immigration on the wages and employment opportunities of Mexican Americans.

Today the achievement gap is hotly debated among pundits, politicians, and educators. In particular this conversation often focuses on the two fastest-growing demographic groups in the United States: Asian Americans and Latinos. In "Academic Profiling," Gilda L. Ochoa addresses this so-called gap by going directly to the source. At one California public high school where the controversy is lived every day, Ochoa turns to the students, teachers, and parents to learn about the very real disparities--in opportunity, status, treatment, and assumptions--that lead to more than just gaps in achievement.

In candid and at times heart-wrenching detail, the students tell stories of encouragement and neglect on their paths to graduation. Separated by unequal middle schools and curriculum tracking, they are divided by race, class, and gender. While those channeled into an International Baccalaureate Program boast about Socratic classes and stress-release sessions, students left out of such programs commonly describe uninspired teaching and inaccessible counseling. Students unequally labeled encounter differential policing and assumptions based on their abilities--disparities compounded by the growth in the private tutoring industry that favors the already economically privileged.

Despite the entrenched inequality in today's schools, "Academic Profiling" finds hope in the many ways students and teachers are affirming identities, creating alternative spaces, and fostering critical consciousness. When Ochoa shares the results of her research with the high school, we see the new possibilities--and limits--of change.

As the twenth-first century begins, Latinas/os represent 45 percent of the residents of Los Angeles County, making them the largest racial/ethnic group in the region. At the same time, the shift from manufacturing to a service-based economy in the area has contributed to a decline in good-paying jobs, significantly impacting working class families. These transformations have created a backlash that has included state propositions impacting Latinas/os and escalating anti-immigrant rhetoric--and Latina/os of all backgrounds are making their voices heard. Until recently, most research on Latinas/os in the U.S. has ignored historical and contemporary dynamics in Latin America, just as scholars of Latin America have generally stopped their studies at the border. This volume roots Los Angeles in the larger arena of globalization, exploring the demographic changes that have transformed the Latino presence in LA from primarily Mexican-origin to one that now includes peoples from throughout the hemisphere. Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, it combines historical perspectives with analyses of power and inequality to consider how Latinas/os are responding to exclusionary immigration, labor, and schooling practices and actively creating communities. The contributors examine Latina/o Los Angeles in the context of historical, economic and social factors that have shaped the region. The first section provides contexts for understanding Latina/o migration, with chapters focusing on such factors as U.S. economic and military domination, labor and economic integration in the Americas, and Los Angeles' economic history. The second section considers how various Latina/o groups have settled and formed communities and interacted with the existing Mexican-origin populations, showing how Zapotecs, Salvadorans, and other peoples are remaking urban demographics. The final section on labor organizing and political activism examines the role of Latina/o immigrants in such actions as the janitors' strike and also considers the contemporary role of students in political activism. The volume concludes with an up-to-date compilation of contemporary scholarship on immigration, the economy, schools, neighborhoods, gender and activism as they relate to Central American and Mexican immigrants. Reflecting a range of methodologies--statistical, historical, ethnographic, and participatory research--this collection is relevant not only to ethnic studies but also to broader concerns in political science, sociology, history, economics, and urban studies. In addition, some chapters focus explicitly on women, and gender issues are interwoven throughout the text. "Latino Los Angeles" is an important work that contributes to contemporary scholarship on transnationalism as it reexamines the changing face of America's largest western metropolis.

This book deals with a broad range of social issues facing Mexican-origin people in the United States. The studies presented in this volume are brought together by two main themes: (1) social inequalities-cultural, educational, and economic-endured by the Chicano/Mexicano community in the United States and (2) the community's efforts to eradicate the source of those inequalities. The second edition of Chicanas and Chicanos in Contemporary Society takes into consideration the most recent demographic changes affecting the Chicano/Mexicano people. With one-third of persons of Mexican descent under the age of fifteen, many of the challenges center on the current well-being of children and their future prospects. Unlike any other book in the market, several chapters closely examine issues related to children and youth, with particular attention given to children's ethnic identity, schooling practices, and educational policies. Two additional features set this book apart from other books. First, it includes new chapters focused on Chicana/Mexicana mothers, including adolescent mothers, interactions with their children and their efforts to reform schools. Second, it has contributions that analyze relations between Mexican immigrants and their coethnics born in the United States. The studies offered in this volume employ multiple theoretical perspectives and research methods. The studies invoke theories from social science disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Contributors use a variety of analytical strategies, including ethnographic methods and quantitative analysis.

This book deals with a broad range of social issues facing Mexican-origin people in the United States. The studies presented in this volume are brought together by two main themes: (1) social inequalities-cultural, educational, and economic-endured by the Chicano/Mexicano community in the United States and (2) the community's efforts to eradicate the source of those inequalities. The second edition of Chicanas and Chicanos in Contemporary Society takes into consideration the most recent demographic changes affecting the Chicano/Mexicano people. With one-third of persons of Mexican descent under the age of fifteen, many of the challenges center on the current well-being of children and their future prospects. Unlike any other book in the market, several chapters closely examine issues related to children and youth, with particular attention given to children's ethnic identity, schooling practices, and educational policies. Two additional features set this book apart from other books. First, it includes new chapters focused on Chicana/Mexicana mothers, including adolescent mothers, interactions with their children and their efforts to reform schools. Second, it has contributions that analyze relations between Mexican immigrants and their coethnics born in the United States. The studies offered in this volume employ multiple theoretical perspectives and research methods. The studies invoke theories from social science disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Contributors use a variety of analytical strategies, including ethnographic methods and quantitative analysis.