Synopses & Reviews
"Without a doubt, Tomand#225;s Jimand#233;nez has written the single most important contemporary academic study on Mexican American assimilation. Clear-headed, crisply written, and free of ideological bias,
Replenished Ethnicity is an extraordinary breakthrough in our understanding of the largest immigrant group in the history of the United States. Bravo!"and#151;Gregory Rodriguez, author of
Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America"Tomand#225;s Jimand#233;nez's Replenished Ethnicity brilliantly navigates between the two opposing perils in the study of Mexican Americansand#151;pessimistically overracializing them or optimistically overassimilating them. This much-needed and gracefully written book illuminates the on-the-ground situations of the later generations of this key American group, insightfully identifying and analyzing the unique factor operating in its case: more or less continuous immigration for more than a century. Jimand#233;nez's work provides a landmark for all future studies of Latin American incorporation into U.S. society."and#151;Richard Alba, author of Remaking the American Mainstream
"Tomand#225;s Jimand#233;nez's study adds a much-needed but long absent element to our understanding of how immigration contributes to the construction and reproduction of Mexican American ethnicity even as it continuously evolves. His work provides useful and needed detail that are absent even from the most reliable surveys."and#151;Rodolfo de la Garza, Columbia University
and#147;In a masterful piece of social science, Tomand#225;s Jimand#233;nez debunks allegations about slow social and cultural assimilation of Mexican Americans through a richly textured ethnographic account of Mexican Americans' lived experiences in two communities with distinct immigration experiences. Population replenishment via immigration, he claims, maintains distinctiveness of established Mexican origin generations via infusion of cultural elixir-in varying doses over time and place. Ironically, it is the vast heterogeneity of Mexican Americans-generational depth, socioeconomic, national origin and legal-that both contributes to the population's ethnic uniqueness and yet defies singular theoretical frameworks. Jimand#233;nez's page-turner uses the Mexican American ethnic prism to re-interpret the U.S. ethnic tapestry and revise the canonical view of assimilation. Replenished Ethnicity sets a high bar for second generation scholarship about Mexican Americans.and#147;and#151;Marta Tienda, The Office of Population Research at Princeton University
Review
and#8220;Convincing and well documented. . . . A significant addition to assimilation theory.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Effective and insightful.and#8221;
Review
"A wonderfully readable, extremely well searched, and immensely helpful contribution to migration scholarship. It is the rare author who can combine the writers fluid prose with the scholars deep analysis, but Andersson, a post-doctoral fellow at the London School of Economics, does just that."
Synopsis
In this groundbreaking ethnography, Ruben Andersson, a gifted anthropologist and journalist, travels along the clandestine migration trail from Senegal and Mali to the Spanish North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Through the voices of his informants, Andersson explores, viscerally and emphatically, how Europes increasingly powerful border regime meets and interacts with its targetthe clandestine migrant. This vivid, rich work examines the subterranean migration flow from Africa to Europe, and shifts the focus from the illegal immigrants” themselves to the vast industry built around their movements. This fascinating and accessible book is a must-read for anyone interested in the politics of international migration and the changing texture of global culture.
Synopsis
"Illegality, Inc. is a rollercoaster ride through the emerging Euro-African borderlands, and at the same time a clever, timely and sometimes disturbing look at the actors who inhabit these borderlands. I know of no other monograph that explores the phenomenon of international migration from inside the heavily funded European border police forces, while at the same time casting such a critical and sarcastic view on journalists, academics and well-meaning NGOs that make up a growing 'illegality industry' with far-reaching consequences for people on the move. A must-read for anyone interested in one of the major challenges of the late modern world."Hans Lucht, author of Darkness before Daybreak: African Migrants Living on the Margins in Southern Italy Today
Synopsis
"
Illegality, Inc. is a rollercoaster ride through the emerging Euro-African borderlands, and at the same time a clever, timely and sometimes disturbing look at the actors who inhabit these borderlands. I know of no other monograph that explores the phenomenon of international migration from inside the heavily funded European border police forces, while at the same time casting such a critical and sarcastic view on journalists, academics and well-meaning NGOs that make up a growing 'illegality industry' with far-reaching consequences for people on the move. A must-read for anyone interested in one of the major challenges of the late modern world."Hans Lucht, author of
Darkness before Daybreak: African Migrants Living on the Margins in Southern Italy Today "Illegality, Inc. is breathtaking in its originality and scope. Extending across the vast expanses of the Sahara desert and the perilous journeys of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, from Senegal and Mali to the Warsaw headquarters of the EUs border police, Ruben Andersson deftly escorts his readers on a remarkable journey. Anderssons methodologically innovative ethnography is truly refreshing and inspiring. Engaging creatively with a bewilderingly diverse range of actors, sites, and settings, this study helps us to comprehend a complex constellation of the often absurd features of the European border regime and the multifarious subjects and projects constituted thereby. This book reveals numerous intriguing linkages across space and time in its exploration of the intricate workings of the illegality industry.” Illegality, Inc. is a very rewarding work of scholarship and intellectual creativity, as well as a rare literary achievement."Nicholas De Genova, co-editor of The Deportation Regime: Sovereignty, Space, and the Freedom of Movement
"This beautifully written and politically powerful book is as compelling and moving as a novel but has the intent and theoretical depth of serious scholarship. A must read for anyone interested in migration and the borders that are constructed to restrain it, Illegality Inc focuses our attention not so much on the African migrants who attempt to reach Southern Europe but on the ways in which illegality is both discursively and practically brought into being and the industry of prevention, control and humanitarianism that has grown up around it."Katy Gardner, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science
Synopsis
This highly accessible, engagingly written book exposes the underbelly of Californiaand#8217;s Silicon Valley, the most successful high-technology region in the world, in a vivid ethnographic study of Mexican immigrants employed in Silicon Valleyand#8217;s low-wage jobs. Christian Zlolniskiand#8217;s on-the-ground investigation demonstrates how global forces have incorporated these workers as an integral part of the economy through subcontracting and other flexible labor practices and explores how these labor practices have in turn affected working conditions and workersand#8217; daily lives. In Zlolniskiand#8217;s analysis, these immigrants do not emerge merely as victims of a harsh economy; despite the obstacles they face, they are transforming labor and community politics, infusing new blood into labor unions, and challenging exclusionary notions of civic and political membership. This richly textured and complex portrait of one community opens a window onto the future of Mexican and other Latino immigrants in the new U.S. economy.
Synopsis
"In a time when we have great need to understand Mexican immigrants and their place in U.S. society, Zlolniski offers a superior analysis of why and how advanced capitalist economies employ undocumented workers. After reading his book, we will never think again of immigration as something that exclusively comes from outside. The immigrants, too, have agency in his account, as he narrates and analyzes an important case of unionization, pointing to significant new possibilities in American life."and#151;Josiah Heyman, Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas at El Paso
"Zlolniski makes a critical contribution to our understanding of the underside of advanced capitalism. He shows us its complexities: It is not only about misery, it is also about shaping subjective and political possibilities. If there is one concept that comes to mind it is the complexity of powerlessness."and#151;Saskia Sassen, author of Guests and Aliens
"This is a well-written and accessible ethnography of Mexican immigrants in Silicon Valley, the working poor who live in the shadow of affluence. Zlolniski presents a nuanced analysis of the thin line between formal and informal work, how families strategize and cope with the myriad challenges wrought by poverty, and the structural limitations to human agency. Zlolniski's perceptive ethnography illuminates hidden social worlds and struggles for dignity through collective action."and#151;Patricia Zavella, author of Women's Work and Chicano Families: Cannery Workers of the Santa Clara Valley
"Stringing together multiple livelihoods, moving among wage labor, the informal economy, and political activism, the immigrants Zlolniski profiles refuse to submit completely to the structural cards stacked against them. In this important and carefully situated study, Zlolniski engages internationally relevant debates over the changing nature of work, the abandonment of employer liability, and the propensity for the media to construct myths that simplify and underestimate the hard work of immigrant families in Silicon Valley."and#151;David Griffith, author of Fishers at Work, Workers at Sea: a Puerto Rican Journey through Labor and Refuge
Synopsis
Unlike the wave of immigration that came through Ellis Island and then subsided, immigration to the United States from Mexico has been virtually uninterrupted for one hundred years. In this vividly detailed book, Tomand#225;s R. Jimand#233;nez takes us into the lives of later-generation descendents of Mexican immigrants, asking for the first time how this constant influx of immigrants from their ethnic homeland has shaped their assimilation. His nuanced investigation of this complex and little-studied phenomenon finds that continuous immigration has resulted in a vibrant ethnicity that later-generation Mexican Americans describe as both costly and beneficial. Replenished Ethnicity sheds new light on America's largest ethnic group, making it must reading for anyone interested in how immigration is changing the United States.
Synopsis
In this groundbreaking ethnographic study, Patty Kelly examines the lives of the women who work in the Zona Galactica, a state-run brothel in Chiapas's capital city. By delving into lives that would otherwise go unremarked, Kelly documents the modernization of the sex industry during the neoliberal era in the city of Tuxtla Gutiand#233;rrez and illustrates how state-regulated sex became part of a broader effort by government officials to bring modernity to Chiapas, one of Mexico's poorest and most conflicted states. Kelly's innovative approach locates prostitution in a political-economic context by treating it as work. Most valuably, she conveys her analysis through vivid portraits of the lives of the sex workers themselves and shows how the women involved are neither victims nor heroines.
Synopsis
and#147;This exceptional book makes several key contributions to the field and shows how freedom and anxiety, and the market and morality, tensely coexist in the business of sex. . . . Kelly's analysis is conveyed through vivid portraits of the lives of sex workers, showing that the women involved are neither victims nor heroines but something else: actors caught between agency and constraint.and#8221;and#151;Roger N. Lancaster, author of
The Trouble with Natureand#147;In this tour de force of feminist anthropology, Patty Kelly gives her heart to the remarkable women who toil in the bawdy sweatshops of the Zona Galactica, a 'reformed' red-light district in the Chiapas capital of Tuxtla Gutiand#233;rrez. In fact, as Kelly shows, it is just the ultimate low-wage industrial district.and#8221;and#151;Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums and In Praise of Barbarians
and#147;The clarity of Kelly's perspective is neither apologetic, nor presumptive (as is usually the case); her focus is always on the political context of these women's lives. Patty Kelly writes like a poet and novelist, so much so that this work begs to be a movie.and#8221;and#151;Carol Leigh, a.k.a. and#147;Scarlot Harlot,and#8221; author of Unrepentant Whore
About the Author
Ruben Andersson is an anthropologist and postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of International Development, London School of Economics and Political Science. He joined Stockholm University after receiving his PhD from LSE in 2013, and has previously worked in journalism and the non-profit sector.
Table of Contents
List of illustrations
Acknowledgments
Timeline
Authors Note
Selected Abbreviations
Introduction
Scene 1
PART ONE. BORDERLANDS
1 Mohammadou and the Migrant-Eaters
2 A Game of Risk
3 Hunter and Prey
PART TWO. CROSSINGS
Scene 2
4 The Border Spectacle
PART THREE. CONFRONTATIONS
5 White Mother, Black Sons
Scene 3
6 Stranded in Time
Scene 4
7 Marchers without Borders
Conclusion
Appendix: A Note on Method
Notes
Selected Glossary
Bibliography
Index