Being brown in Dixie: Race, ethnicity and Latino immigration in the New South edited by Cameron D. Lippard and Charles A
- PDF / 55,410 Bytes
- 3 Pages / 535.748 x 697.323 pts Page_size
- 2 Downloads / 124 Views
Bei n g b rown in Dixie: Ra ce, ethnicity a nd Latino immigration in t he New South Cameron D. Lippard and Charles A. Gallagher (eds.) First Forum Press, Boulder, CO, 2011, 387pp., $78.50, ISBN: 978-1-935049289 Latino Studies (2012) 10, 251–253. doi:10.1057/lst.2012.16
As part of the series “Latinos: Exploring Diversity and Change” published by First Forum Press, Being Brown in Dixie: Race, Ethnicity and Latino Immigration in the New South is a collection of essays designed to explore the impact of Latino immigration on race and ethnic relations in the south. Building on the work of past scholarship in this area, editors Cameron D. Lippard and Charles Gallagher bring together a 13–article collection of original research and theoretical writings that move beyond describing the now well-documented demographic shifts in the southeast. Each essay contributes to answering the overarching question of whether and how those demographic shifts will “challenge or change the complexities of race and ethnic relations in the New South” (6). More specifically, the authors discuss (1) how Latinos will alter conceptions of race, ethnicity and racism, (2) how they will test institutions and (3) how their experiences in a variety of spheres compare to that of African-Americans (313). The articles approach these questions through a variety of topics that include discrimination in the workforce and housing market, the impact on and responses of educational and government
institutions, affects on juvenile crime rates, the racial framing of Latinos in media and several organizing efforts. Together, the authors provide an excellent contextual framework describing the significance and import of investigating what it means to be a brown immigrant in Dixie. They accomplish this, in part, through the breadth and depth of the demographic material presented in each article. While many of the articles begin with similar statistics about the rapid and explosive growth of the Latino population in the South, over the course of the collection, the reader is left with a clear sense of the larger patterns, county level distinctions and various motivating factors for those demographic shifts. The combination of research topics, varied geographic foci and methodology provide the reader with an excellent grasp of the intricate tapestry of the relationships between Latinos and the region’s economic changes, racial framework and institutions as well as a more nuanced picture of the south in general. This latter point should not be overlooked as scholars often treat the south as a homogeneous region usually situated in some historic past. Such treatments prevent us from considering
r 2012 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies www.palgrave-journals.com/lst/
Vol. 10, 1–2, 251–253
Book Review
the contemporary significance of research conducted in this area, a trap these authors successfully avoid. The editors strike a delicate balance between articles that debunk common misperceptions about Latinos immigrants (for example Latino immigrants
Data Loading...
