Synopses & Reviews
Latino populations are currently the fastest growing in the nation and Latinos comprise by far the largest percentage of new immigrants to the southern states.
Latino Workers in the Contemporary South describes issues these immigrants and refugees face, particularly regarding work, and also offers accounts of the impact of Latinos on their employers and communities at large. Though its discussions span a variety of regions, the book focuses, in particular, on areas of Georgia and Florida where booming Hispanic populations have had considerable influence in recent years. It documents the different ways in which Latino immigrants in today's South have adapted to the ambiguous and frequently inaccessible territory of the South's notorious "good-ole-boy" network to navigate the world of work.
Contributors to the volume discuss legal and illegal migration, the problem of accurately tracking immigration, gender-specific issues, and language barriers, as well as adaptations made by immigrants in the face of hardships. Essays highlight specific areas that provide work opportunities to immigrants, such as the poultry industry of North Georgia, the carpet industry of Dalton, Georgia, and the onshore oil industry of southern Louisiana. The contributors also discuss the changing cultures of areas with large Hispanic populations and the mixture of hospitality and hostility encountered by these new southerners. Latino Workers in the Contemporary South offers a great deal of new information about Latino immigrants and the changing face of the South.
Review
"A significant contribution toward understanding the sudden and unprecedented influx of Latinos into the American South.”--Journal of Appalachian Studies
Review
"Ethnic historians can find much useful data on a contemporary Latino migration pattern that is bringing change to a region where change has traditionally been slow and received with skepticism, if not hostility. This book should spark the interest of immigration historians in the nuevo South."--Journal of American Ethnic History
Review
"Interesting discussions of Latino immigrant experiences (primarily Mexican), including their families being more inclined to immigrate as the Mexican economy worsens, their diaspora, language barriers, and economic hardships."--Monthly Labor Review
About the Author
Arthur D. Murphy is a professor of anthropology and geography at Georgia State University. Colleen Blanchard is the research coordinator for applied research in anthropology at Georgia State University. Jennifer A. Hill is a research associate at the Center for Applied Research in Anthropology at Georgia State University.
Table of Contents
Introduction: from patrones and Caciques to good ole boys / Deborah A. Duchon, Arthur D. Murphy -- Ethnicity: consciousness, agency, and status in the world system / Kathryn A. Kozaitis -- Comparative perspectives on international migration: illegals or "guest workers" in the American south? Eric C. Jones, Robert E. Rhoades -- How many are there? Ethnographic estimates of Mexican women in Atlanta, Georgia / Martha W. Rees -- Industry and immigration in Dalton, Georgia / James D. Engstrom -- Mexican places in southern spaces: globalization, work, and daily life in and around the north Georgia poultry industry / Greig Guthey -- Hospitality and hostility: Latin immigrants in southern Georgia / John D. Studstill, Laura Nieto-Studstill -- Another day in the Diaspora: changing ethnic landscapes in south Florida / David Griffith, Alex Stepick, Karen Richman, Guillermo Grenier, Ed Kissam, Allan Burns, Jeronimo Camposeco -- Language and the migrant worker experience in rural North Carolina communities / Jack G. Dale, Susan Andreatta, Elizabeth Freeman -- Immigration and the organization of the onshore oil industry: southern Louisiana in the late 1990s / Katherine M. Donato, Carl L. Bankston, Dawn T. Robinson -- Heading south: why Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in Brownsville, Texas, cross the border into Mexico / Kathleen M. Murphy -- A new destination for an old migration: origins, trajectories, and labor market incorporation of Latinos in Dalton, Georgia / Victor Zâuäniga, Rubâen Hernâandez-Leâon.