Book Description
This book is part history, part political analysis and part memoir. It is an intensely personal book about what has changed in California over the last quarter century.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read About Illegal Immigrants.......2007-08-15
Victor Davis Hanson presents a compelling story of what is happening in California as huge numbers of illegal immigrants flood the state bringing changes that are truly disturbing.
tired..........2007-07-01
the first 50 pages were OK but downhill from there.
these are the tired rantings of a liberal who now realizes the failings of that mindset... but now it's too late. the author seems to think that picking grapes is some sort of noble undertaking and that manual labor is superior to his real job--- college professor.
now that the predictable chickens have come home to roost (mexican invasion, more welfare for illegal immigrants and overloaded hospitals full of thirld-worlders, he is SHOCKED!!SHOCKED!! that there is gambling going on at Ricks in Casablanca...
mediocre bathroom reading at best.
A personal and factual analysis.......2007-06-09
Hanson's well-written book demonstrates that complex and controversial topics can be discussed with passion, compassion, and respect. He writes about how legal and illegal immigrants have changed and are changing California into Mexifornia, a blend of two nations and peoples. I ordered extra copies to circulate among friends.
Mixed Mexages in CA Immigration Critique.......2007-04-17
Author Hanson takes a revealing look at the changing face of California and flawlessly paints a clear but rather glum picture for its future prospects. In doing so, he makes no odious judgments on the incredible numbers of immigrants and illegal immigrants going into the state; but make no mistake about it, he's not happy with the upcoming possibilities.
He thoughtfully examines both sides of the issue in this brief but concise work. The immigrants have reason to want to leave Mexico; and the USA has major (economic) reasons for wanting them here. Hanson goes back and forth on the split throughout the book. He employs clarifying personal anecdotes on the subject, and sets himself as both for and against immigration into the state and into the USA.
I guess because he's part of the faculty at CSU, he has a habit of clouding the issue with occasional heavy history, professorial-like long-winded sentences, high-rent words, foreign expressions, and many, many references to people most have never heard of. The author writes, "...even though all the protocols of American public schools, from secularism and free speech to tolerance and rationalism, had no pedigree in Tenochtitlán!" What's he talking about!? Too many times in this material, Hanson says in 25 words what other authors might say in 12. -Which makes for some rough reading now and again.
"We had all seen the demons within our very serves on the Darwinian playground and knew that their exorcism was the work of all good citizens." Really?! Getting past some of the vague and cumbersome references was sometimes a chore. How much did I miss by drawing blanks whenever the author went into his Department of Classics lecture-hall mode?
Page for page, it's never exactly clear where the author stands on immigration. That's because he's taken a masterful objective look at the subject. Even so, he's convinced something needs to be done (fast) to reverse accruing problems due to the unsound growing people condition in California. Many times he critically describes this side of the issue, then in a surprising hairpin turnaround (often in the same paragraph!), he explains "the other" point of view. About the great migration from the South, Hanson's hopeful. Even with all the needed re-do and re-tuning by government, education, the media, employers, social engineers, and the rest, he seems to be saying, as of now: "It's all good." ... or, I guess: "es todo bueno."
Plenty of fresh slants on the subject. Good up-close look. From both sides of the fence.
So, you want to learn something about immigration?.......2007-02-20
I think this is a fantastic book. A must read for anyone interested in learning more about legal or illegal immigration from Mexico and other points south of our border.
What impressed me was the background of the author, several generations of working the land in central California and a faculty member of a major university.
He has some interesting points to make in, generally, an easy to read style. He does get "deep" in a few spots but very few and nothing to ruin an enjoyable and educational read. I am also a university faculty member and live in south-central Texas and maybe that influenced my read a bit. However, I believe anyone could benefit from reading the book, whichever side of the topic you may be on.
One of his very interesting points is how immigration of Mexicans in the past, say the 1950s, is different than today..and why it is so. Another interesting point is how the Atlantic ocean has played a major role in how immigration has worked in the past.
I've promised to lend the book to several people...but I want it back. In fact, once I finished it, I immediately turned to the opening and started to re-read it. Not something I've done too often with books.
Book Description
This incisive and elegantly written examination of Chicano antiwar mobilization demonstrates how the pivotal experience of activism during the Viet Nam War era played itself out among Mexican Americans. ÃRaza Sí! ÃGuerra No! presents an engaging portrait of Chicano protest and patriotism. On a deeper level, the book considers larger themes of American nationalism and citizenship and the role of minorities in the military service, themes that remain pertinent today. Lorena Oropeza's exploration of the evolution, political trajectory, and eventual implosion of the Chicano campaign against the war in Viet Nam encompasses a fascinating meditation on Mexican Americans' political and cultural orientations, loyalties, and sense of status and place in American society.
Book Description
Huerta takes as his starting point 1979, the year Luís Valdez's play, Zoot Suit, was produced on Broadway. Huerta looks at plays by and about Chicanas and Chicanos, as they explore through performance, the community and its identity caught between the United States and Mexico. Through informative biographies of each playwright and analyses of their plays, Huerta offers an accessible introduction to this important aspect of American theater and culture. The book contains photographs from key productions and will be invaluable to students, scholars and general theatergoers.
Book Description
Cesar Chavez is known as one of America's greatest civil rights leaders. When he led a 340-mile peaceful protest march through California, he ignited a cause and improved the lives of thousands of migrant farmworkers. But Cesar wasn't always a leader. As a boy, he was shy and teased at school. His family slaved in the fields for barely enough money to survive.
Cesar knew things had to change, and he thought that--maybe--he could help change them. So he took charge. He spoke up. And an entire country listened.
An author's note provides historical context for the story of Cesar Chavez's life.
Customer Reviews:
A beautiful children's book with an illustrated personal story and a larger message.......2006-09-09
Harvesting Hope tells the tale of Cesar Chavez, but more than that, it reveals the power of collective bargaining and fighting for what is just in the world. As a children's book, it has appeal as a well-illustrated biography, an important history lesson, a story of family and personal triumph, and a book with a message. Chavez's crusade took place several decades ago, but the plight of migrant farm workers remains, despite the tremendous inroads Chavez made with La Causa. The story of Chavez's childhood, hard days of labor, and fight for worker's rights is timeless, and Kathleen Krull's award-nominated book deserves a place on every child's bookshelf.
The story of a lesser known American Hero.......2006-02-22
This is a great picture book for all ages. The heroic story of Cesar Chavez is left out of most U.S. history classrooms, save those in California. This book would be an enlightening addition to any classroom or children's library.
Si Se Puede.......2005-06-08
Let's begin by saying that the drawings are super and captivating. Yuyi Morales creates characters that show emotion and the result is a drawing of emotion from the young reader. As the title implies this is the story of Cesar Chavez who many adults came to know about from his work with the farmworkers in California. This story humanizes the man by beginning in his childhood. The roots of the farmworker leader are explored as a young person traveling from crop to crop , from state to state. A drought in Arizona began the family oddyssey that would result in Caser Chavez becoming familiar first hand with the troubles of the farmworkers. Life on the road became a harsh reality. The treatment he encountered in school forced him to drop out in eighth grade but the treatment in the fields wasn't much better, at times it was much worse. This is simple story about a complex problem that one man was determined to overcome. He wanted justice for farmworkers and organized. He became to Mexicans what MLK was for civil rights, for Mexicans it was an extension of civil rights. This is a beautiful book for young readers or those not so young that are learning to read in English if they have a reading foundation in another language. Although it is recommended for children ages 6-9, middle school students, ages 9-12, especially those with limited English proficiency can benefit from this story well told. For the teacher or parent this book can help instill pride and understanding as to how determination, perseverance and hard work can overcome even the greatest odds.
Beautiful, educational, brought tears to my eyes!.......2004-11-25
I recommend this book for anyone 4 and up (adults included!) Beautiful illustrations and a wonderful telling of an important part of history.
Harvesting Hope is Hopeful.......2004-08-02
This story is a wonderful way to teach children about the people who have made a difference in our world. People like Cesar Chavez. The story beautifully illustrates how Cesar did not use violence to solve problems but rather he used his mind, as his mother had taught him. The illustartions are vivid and real. The story is well written and teaches an important part of California history in a wonderful way. It reaches the heart of all ages. This is a great book for any elementary school classroom library, even High School.
Amazon.com
Readers familiar with immigration history as told in books like Roger Daniels's Coming to America will experience a sense of déjà vu with Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez. The immigrant experience is a constant in American life; although the tides ebb and flow, it seems that there always has been an immigrant presence in the United States. What's different today, of course, is where the immigrants are coming from: half are Latin American.
Gonzalez, a columnist for the New York Daily News, studies these latest arrivals in a book that combines history and journalism. He has a keen understanding of Hispanic diversity, focusing not just on "Hispanics" as a monolithic category but as a variety of people from many nations. The politics in Harvest of Empire are often tendentious: Gonzalez unfavorably compares U.S. border control efforts to building the Great Wall in China, demands an end to Puerto Rico's "colonial status," insists that Spanish become an official language actively encouraged in the public schools, and so on. His agenda will no doubt appeal to a certain kind of reader, but at the cost of alienating many others, including, probably, a majority of Hispanics living in the United States. For those looking for a left-leaning account of Hispanic immigration, however, this book succeeds as an ambitious survey. --John J. Miller
Book Description
Within the next decade, Hispanics will become the largest minority group in the United States. The new immigrants have ignited a vibrant Latin explosion in popular culture and deeply affected American society.
Spanning 500 years-from the first New World colonies to our nation's nineteenth-century westward expansion, from the days of gunboat diplomacy to the turn of the millennium-Harvest of Empire features family portraits of real-life immigrants along with sketches of the political events and social conditions that compelled them to leave their homeland. In addition, it gives a fascinating look at how these Latino pioneers have transformed the cultural landscape of the United States.
Customer Reviews:
THE BOOK IS GREAT... I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO READ THE HISTORY WHICH IS HIDEN........2007-09-25
THE BOOK IS A GREAT TOOL FOR LATINOS WHO WANT TO KNOW MORE OF WHY THE COUNTRY'S OF THEIR FATHERS ARE IN THE STATE THEY ARE TODAY. I HAVE ENJOYED THIS BOOK A GREAT DEAL AND WILL PASS IT ALONG TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
It is cool.........2007-09-05
I have to read this book because of my class. However I really enjoyed to read this book. It was pretty interesting and making me to think about Latinos.
Addressing the matter of empire.......2006-11-13
It's so ironic to hear US citizens talk about an "invasion" of immigrants, while ignoring the way in which the US has been invading other countries for generations - either militarily or economically. It's great to see Juan Gonzalez analyze this elephant in the empire's living room.
With all of our technology, one would hope that people in the US would learn that there are other people in the world that are being harmed by the tax dollars they invest in militarism - a system of force that includes over 700 military installations in 132 countries, the funding and training of proxy armies, harmful behavior by CIA agents and "economic hit men" and other policies that create misery and refugees.
As Christians, or simply moral human beings, US citizens should welcome our Latino brothers and sisters, and maybe even offer an apology for the policies of this country's masters of war and corporate crime. Thankfully, countries like Venezuela and Bolivia are starting to resist the dictates of the World Bank and other institutions of neoliberalism.
For those who appreciate the views of Juan Gonzalez, you can hear him every day as the co-host of the award-winning "Democracy Now!" radio program.
I would also recommend the DVDs "When the Mountains Tremble" and Eugene Jarecki's "Why We Fight" for an understanding of our militarism and the way it causes suffering in Latin America.
"There is at the head of this great continent a very powerful country, very rich, very war-like, and capable of anything. . . The United States seems destined to plague and torment the continent in the name of freedom." -Simon Bolivar
Review of Harvest of Empire.......2005-05-27
Harvest of Empire, a book by Juan Gonzalez, gives a history of Latinos in the United States. The book is divided into three sections entitled "Roots," "Branches," and "Harvest." The first section contains three chapters that provide a brief history of the relationship between Latin America and the United States. The second section is composed of six chapters, each one devoted to one of the major groups of Latinos living in the United States. Each of the following groups are described in this section: Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, and Columbians and Panamanians share a chapter. Within the six chapters, Gonzalez writes about individuals or families in order to reflect the general migration story of the larger groups. Thus, these individual portrayals serve as representations of the larger collection of immigrants. In the third section Gonzalez discusses several topics relating to Hispanics living in the United States. The topics include politics, immigration, language and culture, free trade, and the state of Puerto Rico.
This book has several strengths. In the first section, Juan Gonzalez provides an informative summary of the history of colonization and expansion in the Americas. The summary is well-researched and easy to read. The main strength of section one is Gonzalez's explanation for why different societies exist today in the United States and Latin America. His theory is that different societies exist as a result of the historical antecedents to our modern society. In section two, the immigrant descriptions help to personalize each of the different groups and allow the reader to identify with their stories. Also, Gonzalez stresses the important differences between each of the various Latino immigrant groups in the United States. Gonzalez combines much historical research with personal interviews he has conducted of various immigrant families. In section three, Gonzalez raises several issues concerning Hispanics living in the United States that are timely. He also asserts six changes he believes are essential to ensure Latino prosperity and assimilation in the United States. The six changes he suggests are thought provoking and stimulating.
Although the book has many strengths, it also has limitations. The most obvious limitation of the first section is its brevity. Gonzalez attempts to summarize more than 500 years of history in less than eighty pages. As a result, much of the history described is generalized and collapsed into short, summary statements. Also, Gonzalez could have better organized sources for further reading and study. He does provide an extensive bibliography, but it is not organized according to subject matter. A better organization of the bibliography would have been more helpful. For example, a list of further readings at the end of each chapter would have been beneficial.
This book is well suited for those wishing to learn more about Hispanics in the United States. It would be ideal for use in a class on Hispanic culture. Also, it would be beneficial for those wishing to learn more about Hispanic immigration to the United States.
A different perspective.......2003-03-12
I am the Americanized Puerto Rican born in Brooklyn whose parents traded cultural awareness by restricting use of the Spanish language at home for assimilation and greater opportunity educationally. The trade off worked, I earned my BS in Management from Pepperdine University. The trade off didn't work, it is difficult for me to associate in any meaningful manner with fellow Puerto Ricans or Latin Americans in general. My African-American friends consider me white, my Anglo-American friends consider me black, and I am quickly shunned at times by Puerto Ricans just because I don't speak Spanish. Juan Gonzalez with great research and detail identified my subtle undefined (at the time) schizophrenic social engagements. Therapeutically, through historical narrative of US policy towards Puerto Rico, cause and affect of PR vs NYC migratory action from the 1940's through today, viewing the current environment of Puerto Ricans in the South Bronx or East Harlem, I've come to know myself better, appreciate those of my race with greater gravity, and understand that none of these actions are by chance. Macroeconomically, the environmental and immigration impact of US policy regarding the Caribean Basin Initiative or NAFTA that are extensively noted and bibliographed, quite simply created a different perspective on my training in business and foreign investment. Mr. Gonzalez does not stop there. He tackles bilingualism, revisits and reexamines American History in a manner not expressed to me in any classroom...ever...then through citings of other works, backs it up. It is the most refreshing book I've read since the Autobiography of Malcolm X with Alex Haley, due to it's clarity and insight for the human quest for internal and external truths.
Book Description
Since late 2001 more than fifty percent of the babies born in California have been Latino. When these babies reach adulthood, they will, by sheer force of numbers, influence the course of the Golden State. This essential study, based on decades of data, paints a vivid and energetic portrait of Latino society in California by providing a wealth of details about work ethic, family strengths, business establishments, and the surprisingly robust health profile that yields an average life expectancy for Latinos five years longer than that of the general population. Spanning one hundred years, this complex, fascinating analysis suggests that the future of Latinos in California will be neither complete assimilation nor unyielding separatism. Instead, the development of a distinctive regional identity will be based on Latino definitions of what it means to be American.
Book Description
This book is part history, part political analysis and part memoir. It is an intensely personal book about what has changed in California over the last quarter century.
Customer Reviews:
A Professor of security studies.......2007-07-05
Finally a balanced, sensitive, yet very pragmatic book on the whole immigration and culture debate. Hanson lays out the strong case that refutes the pro-immigration lobby and all the ethnic pride industry that has been built up around the cult of multiculturalism in the United States. The real question that comes out of the book is what has the Government of Mexico really done to take care of its citizens in the past 100 years? Not much, and it has effectively outsourced its problems to its neighbor to the north.
Pity Me.......2007-06-29
I read Mexifornia soon after it was initially released. My feelings for the author and the book varied from pity to anger. "Good Mexicans" are those who attend his classes in the Classics. "Bad Mexicans" are usually "Indians from the small towns" and others who cling to their heritage and bring it with them. Hanson's historical amnesia excludes the fact that California was stolen from Mexico in a war of aggression so blatant that US Grant quit the army in disgust. Dr. Hanson happily earns a living on this stolen land and resents "bad" Mexicans from invading his private Anglodom. No mention of California Indians who no longer apparently exist. History is only for nice Anglophones in his home town, although "some best friends" are Mexican. No solutions here, just resentment for Mexican existence. Forget the book.
"Mexifornia", The Truth Finally Told.......2007-01-11
"Mexifornia" is a must read for those concerned with preserving our forefathers culture in the United States. Davis sees it as it really is and pulls no punches in laying the blame squarely on those who are at fault in this dilemma.
Please take the time to read this; it ought to scare the pants off you!.......2006-09-15
We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of America's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, "Mexifornia," explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.
Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy! America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"
"Here is how they do it," Lamm said: "First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country." History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: "The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and
tragedy." Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans."
Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and
discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.
Third, "We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: "The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we! are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together." Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have
various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."
"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school."
"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all
minority failure on the majority population."
"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. "E. Pluribus Unum" -- From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'Unum,' we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."
"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the! doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."
In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said,. "Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book "Mexifornia." His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America. deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."
There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today.
Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."
Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.
Mexifornia.......2006-08-03
Great service, delivered per agreement. Book tends to be a bit heavy and not sure of what the direction. I feel that the whole book could be condensed into a single chapter. Has a lot of 'fill' which adds nothing to the content. It does have some good facts that would be a lot more meaningful if organized and put into the single chapter.
Average customer rating:
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From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City, 1917-1948 (Contributions in Ethnic Studies)
Virginia E. Sanchez Korrol
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0313234582 |
Book Description
Both Hollywood and corporate America are taking note of the marketing power of the growing Latino population in the United States. And as salsa takes over both the dance floor and the condiment shelf, the influence of Latin culture is gaining momentum in American society as a whole. Yet the increasing visibility of Latinos in mainstream culture has not been accompanied by a similar level of economic parity or political enfranchisement. In this important, original, and entertaining book, Arlene Dávila provides a critical examination of the Hispanic marketing industry and of its role in the making and marketing of U.S. Latinos.
Dávila finds that Latinos' increased popularity in the marketplace is simultaneously accompanied by their growing exotification and invisibility. She scrutinizes the complex interests that are involved in the public representation of Latinos as a generic and culturally distinct people and questions the homogeneity of the different Latino subnationalities that supposedly comprise the same people and group of consumers. In a fascinating discussion of how populations have become reconfigured as market segments, she shows that the market and marketing discourse become important terrains where Latinos debate their social identities and public standing.
Customer Reviews:
The best new work in media studies is from an anthropologist.......2001-12-09
Why are Latinos at the center of a pop-culture phenomenon in the United States? Arlene Davila argues it is not do to their rapid population growth, but the growth of their media image thanks to aggressive marketing and commercial advertising. Her second book to explore the commodification of Hispanic cultures, Latinos Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People, is a detailed analysis of the abundant images targeting Latino populations in the U.S., the worldviews of the executives who manufacture those images, and the clients who buy them. Davila seeks to explore the mechanics by which a population, situated in the midst of economic globalization, becomes a market.
Davila conducts her fieldwork in several New York City ad agencies managed by Latinos and whose principal interest is to target Latinos. Her technique includes interviews with executives and creatives, and participant observation at national marketing conventions. There is also some use of focus groups to examine the folk perceptions of these propagated images among individuals of different Hispanic nationalities.
The author questions in whose interest these commercials are being made, for ultimately they serve the ad client and not Latinidad. She concludes "the commercial representation of U.S. Latinos has sustained particular hierarchies of representation that are indicative of wider dynamics affecting contemporary Latino cultural politics" (p.20). Her work is sweeping in its scope, hence my review is limited to the construction of "Latino" and "Hispanic" as representative identities and linking it to the critiques she aims at the executives and creatives of the ad agencies. This not a book where audience response plays a large role, rather it is one that gives extensive coverage to the ad agencies themselves, and the knowledges they use to construct mass produced images.
The categories of "Hispanic" and "Latino" are invented and by definition presuppose some intrinsic difference, relative to Anglos. This intrinsic difference is what makes ethnic-specific marketing plausible and it is how ad agencies pitch their services to clients. Thus, the notion of a pan-Latino identity-that individuals from all Spanish speaking countries have a shared culture-originated in the United States from the Cuban intellectuals who so dominate the Latino advertising industry. Further complicating the matter, the category of "Latino" is constantly in flux, as is illustrated by a current trend towards ads that opt for whiter versions of Latinidad, reconfiguring Latino traditions within the borders of the American middle-class.
Davila shows there is a propensity for ads and TV programming to use unaccented, "good" Spanish, and never that increasingly common mixture of English vocabulary and Spanish language-Spanglish. Such observations form the cornerstone of Davila's critique: ad agency executives or creatives who claim to have made some sort of liberating political accomplishment are immediately compromised due to the manufactured nature of the category which supposedly indexes the population they are trying to represent.
While on the one hand, the book does speak to scholars of the broad genre of interdisciplinary studies, it is definitely aimed at Latino advertising executives and marketing insiders as well. In this text several biting critiques leveled at the preconceptions of the advertisers and their clients are present, and here I will address three of the most prominent. The first is that the growing influence of Hispanic music and food on American popular culture represents a "coming of age" (p.3) for Latino populations. Davila indicates that this equates economic empowerment with political enfranchisement without the transference of any actual power, only the illusion of the potential for that power.
Second is the belief that through marketing and advertising it is possible to right old wrongs by correcting the stereotypes of the past (e.g. the Frito Bandito). In fact, Davila argues, the stereotypes are either repackaged in a slightly permutated form or simply replaced with new kinds of stereotypes, rather than removed all together. They may be no longer dirty, lazy thieves, but are instead emotional, religious, and familial. This sort of lose-lose scenario is especially grim considering the effects it has on U.S. born Latinos, who are typically much more likely to absorb and internalize commercialized identities than are recent immigrants, thereby making themselves more responsive to future exposure to the same forms.
Third, she notes the overall failure of the advertising world relative to the truly great potential it has as a political tool, especially considering the many agency executives and creatives she met sympathetic to her agenda. For all their self-affirmations, they have not actually effected any positive changes and meanwhile, real minority access to media outlets is falling precipitously.
Latinos Inc. succeeds in broadening the discourse on race in the U.S. as well as interjecting anthropological methodology into a realm dominated by interdisciplinary scholars. This work illustrates the great promise and possibilities of media studies, a genre by no means lacking in interesting and prolific output, but one which is sorely in need of a coherent methodology that goes beyond simply reading the "texts" of popular culture. I am thinking here of figures such as Neil Postman, Michael Parenti, and John Fiske, all of whom are fascinating in their own right and with important things to say, yet their works do not have the rigor of Davila's
Latinos Inc. review.......2001-12-06
Americans buy more salsa than ketchup. This factoid illustrates well the fact that Latino culture and its products are becoming increasingly popular in today's American consumer sphere. In her book, Latinos Inc., The Making and Marketing of a People, Arlene Davila examines the processes and dynamics behind the marketing of Latino products and culture, and how the marketing practices associated with Latino culture are affecting the Latino population of America.
Davila frames the academic context into which this book fits. While there is a glut of marketing and advertising studies in general, ones pertaining specifically to Hispanics are noticeably lacking. She pompously generalizes the ones that do exist as "uncritical," stating that one after another they either assert Latino's "coming of age" or commodification in American society. It is in this framework that she fixes her more critical eye on the Latino marketing industry.
Davila does an excellent job of articulating the plight of Latino and other minority consumers. She details how advertising has marginalized Latinos and other minorities by relegating them to the status of "the other." This builds and reinforces racial hierarchies that serve to keep Latinos lock in an inferior status. While contemplating these divisions, Davila wonders aloud "whether the United States will ever truly be one nation." She emphasizes the oxymoron of a segmented and divided United States with her mantra of Latinos as a "nation within a nation."
Davila highlights the contradiction between the interests of advertisers and consumers in advertising. For advertisers, advertisements are a vehicle to make money. For consumers, they are a vehicle to represent themselves and have their voice heard by a larger audience. These interests often come into conflict with one another as prudent advertising sometimes calls for the misrepresentation or overgeneralization of Latino communities while prudent representation requires accuracy and destruction, not the building and reinforcement, of racial and ethnic stereotypes. Almost without fail, the interests of the advertising agencies win out, as they are the creators of the advertisements themselves.
Davila indeed has a sharply honed eye for criticism. In Latinos Inc. she is very adept at pointing out the wrongs of situations. By the end of the book, Davila has built a long list of these wrongs. However, she offers precious little in the way of solutions. For instance, in her lamentations about our divided nation, she points out what hasn't worked as a force uniting Latinos with the rest of the population (citizenship or consumership), but doesn't speculate about what could work to unit the entire population. Another example is her adamant denunciation of both advertiser's generalization and segmentation of the Latino population. She derides both of these advertising techniques and destructive and counter-productive for Latinos, yet offers nothing as an alternative to these approaches. She leaves the reader wondering if there is a happy median between generalization and segmentation on the representation spectrum, or of if the entire is invalid and an entirely different advertising paradigm is necessary. She sees bad advertising, but what is good advertising?
Davila's examination of the Latino marketing industry is Latino-specific, to be sure, but at times it could just as easily pertain to the advertising industry in general. As such, at these instances the book struggles to distinguish itself from the rest of the glut of advertising studies. For instance, she tries to that the Hispanic marketing industry is "uniquely revealing" because Hispanic advertising's need to "empathize, charm, appeal, or shock a potential consumer in thirty or sixty seconds entail a great deal of simplification and typification...bring to the surface the tropes, images, and discourses that have become widespread and generalized representations of Hispanidad." It seems that this observation can apply to any of the hundreds of generalized groups represented in advertising.
While Davila convincingly argues that the New York's Latino high diversity makes the city an appropriate focus of her study, readers may be left wondering if her study would not have been better served with a wider geographical focus. It is possible that Davila arrived at some erroneous conclusions based on this limited focus. She speaks of the political disenfranchisement of the Latino community, but in fact there are some unacknowledged segments of the Latino population outside of New York that wield considerable political influence. For instance, in 1998 in Texas, 20% of its U.S. House representatives and 19% of the representatives to its state house and are Latino (Marin, 1999 and State of Texas, 2001). George Bush enlisted the help of the Latino advertising agency Sosa, Bromley, Aguilar, & Associates to propel him to a landslide 1998 Texas gubernatorial and subsequent 2000 U.S. presidential victories (the agency helped Bush garner 49% of the Latino vote in Florida) (ABC News.com, 2001 and Hart, 2000). For comparison, Bush won 18% if the Latino vote in New York (ABC News.com, 2001). The Latino political climate of New York is not indicative of that elsewhere in the entire U.S. Nonetheless, Davilia relies heavily on examples from New York Lation political scene to back up her arguments. At the least, the counter evidence calls these arguments into question.
To Davila's credit, she successfully accomplishes her stated goal of examining the nuanced dynamics behind the Latino marketing industry. While informative and painstakingly researched, the book is neither entertaining nor exceptionally useful. Aside from the chapter on consumer focus group discussions, she doesn't do a good job of relating the very consumer-oriented subject, the dynamics and processes behind advertising practices, to the consumers themselves. This failed link leaves the book with very little relevance to anyone outside of the advertising industry.
Book Description
Food, televisions, computer equipment, plumbing supplies, clothing. Much of the material foundation of our everyday lives is produced along the U.S./Mexico border in a world largely hidden from our view. Based on gripping firsthand accounts, this book investigates the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on those who labor in the agricultural fields and maquiladora factories on the border. Journalist David Bacon paints a powerful portrait of poverty, repression, and struggle, offering a devastating critique of NAFTA in the most pointed and in-depth examination of border workers published to date.
Unlike journalists who have made brief excursions into strawberry fields and maquiladoras, Bacon has more than a decade's experience reporting on the ground at the border, and he has developed sustained relationships with scores of workers and organizers who have entrusted him with their stories. He describes harsh conditions of child labor in the Mexicali Valley, the deplorable housing outside factories in cities such as Tijuana, and corporate retaliation faced by union organizers. He finds that, despite the promises of its backers, NAFTA has locked in a harsh neoliberal economic policy that has swept away laws and protections that Mexican workers had established over decades. More than a showcase for NAFTA's victims, this book traces the emergence of a new social consciousness, telling how workers in Mexico, the United States, and Canada are now beginning to join together in a powerful new strategy of cross-border organizing as they search for economic and social justice.
Download Description
Food, televisions, computer equipment, plumbing supplies, clothing. Much of the material foundation of our everyday lives is produced along the U.S./Mexico border in a world largely hidden from our view. Based on gripping firsthand accounts, this book investigates the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on those who labor in the agricultural fields and maquiladora factories on the border. Journalist David Bacon paints a powerful portrait of poverty, repression, and struggle, offering a devastating critique of NAFTA in the most pointed and in-depth examination of border workers published to date. Unlike journalists who have made brief excursions into strawberry fields and maquiladoras, Bacon has more than a decade's experience reporting on the ground at the border, and he has developed sustained relationships with scores of workers and organizers who have entrusted him with their stories. He describes harsh conditions of child labor in the Mexicali Valley, the deplorable housing outside factories in cities such as Tijuana, and corporate retaliation faced by union organizers. He finds that, despite the promises of its backers, NAFTA has locked in a harsh neoliberal economic policy that has swept away laws and protections that Mexican workers had established over decades. More than a showcase for NAFTA's victims, this book traces the emergence of a new social consciousness, telling how workers in Mexico, the United States, and Canada are now beginning to join together in a powerful new strategy of cross-border organizing as they search for economic and social justice.
Customer Reviews:
Great, real deep.......2007-04-15
Struggle and hope. That's what I thought of this May the 1st of 2006, when seemingly millions of people across the US, mainly Latinos, rallied to support so-called illegal immigrants. These immigrants have literally spent a long time struggling both in the nations they came from and here in the US as business people get rich from their labor. But that day there was hope. In this day of globalization where corporations have the ultimate freedom to cross borders at will in the search for higher and higher profits, while workers cannot without becoming "illegals", it was a day that seemed to signify that "Si, se peude!" They stood up to a government punishing its own people trying to escape a poverty created by the economic policies created by that very government.
What exactly is going on at the US-Mexican border? It seems so far away to me, but in a town I grew up near, you can see the backlash and blame on immigrants for US citizens losing jobs to what is really that fault of neo-liberal attacks like NAFTA. In Hazleton, PA (about 45 minutes from my native Carbondale), some of the most draconian laws against immigrants ever passed sailed through recently. But it all comes back to the border. It turns out that Mexican immigrants are not so docile after all,and that they, just like any people who have been wronged over and over, will stand up for themselves. David Bacon, a labor journalist who works for the Nation, illustrates this well in "The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the U. S./Mexico Border".
Bacon looks at what exactly is happening on the border. He starts by exploring the grape pickers of Southern California. Most had come to the US to seek higher wages than they could have possibly gotten in Mexico. But after NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association), the companies at which they had won better wages after decades of fights with the Caesar Chavez's United Farm Workers (UFW), many suddenly found that they lost these jobs as they moved to Mexico's Mexicali Valley where they could pay those workers as much as a third less than the mainly Mexican immigrants in the US. In the Mexicali Valley, farmworkers (who often bring their children to the fields since there is no affordable school or daycare) could barely afford to pay their bills or get groceries, leading to many families sharing homes in order to pool their resources.
Along this same border has risen the infamous Maquiladora (duty-free and union-free factories) industry, which is now a global term but originated as a term for clothing manufacturers along the US-Mexico border. These have swelled since NAFTA, and one of the allures is that it is very hard to form an independent union in Mexico. However, Bacon illustrates that over the past decade of NAFTA Mexico, several independent unions have arisen in the face of a hostile ruling PRI, and then PAN, governments. At the same time, US unions have begun to pull away from their former cold-war, anti-communist sentiment and have slowly recognized that American workers and Mexican workers both lose because of NAFTA and that they must work together in order to survive, The UE, (United Electrical), an independent union, sent the first support to the new independent unions and conducted co-campaigns on the border to organize Maquiladoras into unions to demand better conditions and wages. Interestingly enough, it also began the question of shifting their tactics, since while US unions usually pressure companies until they can win or get some of their goals, Mexican unions usually see the government as their main enemy since the Mexican government maintains industry control over wages and will often not let companies raise wages if it will effect an entire industry (another reason US companies like moving to Mexico).
Some of the stuff in this book honestly was shocking how far 1st world companies would go to crush 3rd world workers. There are countless stories in "Children of NAFTA" of brutal beatings of union organizers. They (factory managers) shipped in temps in many stories to vote for the company government-sanctioned union in factory-wide elections, which too seemed many times to galvanize Maquiladora workers against the management. Black-lists, revenge wage-reductions, and brutal attacks on factory workers' pro-union demonstrations almost made reading it unbearable. However, as the labor organizers learned to deal with NAFTA, the one thing I came away from is that the only hope that we human beings fighting for a better future for our children have is that we can never turn our backs on anyone in a struggle. If global corporations can be everywhere, labor unions must be too. While we engage in these struggles locally, our minds must think globally, as the phrase goes.
I guess it depends on what you are looking for.......2005-10-20
If you are looking for a biased account of the human tragedy that is Mexican labor, this might be the book for you.
If you are looking for a analysis of what is happening and WHY. You may be disappointed.
David Bacon clearly wishes that he was the Saul Alinsky of Mexico. If you don't know who Saul Alinsky is, you may have just found your next reading subject.
It's not that its poorly written. It is just not impressive in any way. If you can't get enough of Mexico or if you need something to read between globalization protests, you will love it. But its hard to just jump in with an open mind and not be disappointed.
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