Lars Schoultz, In Their Own Best Interest: A History of the U.S. Effort to Improve Latin Americans. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018. Bibliography, index, 392 pp.; hardcover $35, paperback $24.95.

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 184-187
Author(s):  
Christy Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Harvard University ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Latin Americans ◽  
History Of ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals ARE ASIANS THE NEW BLACKS?

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (02) ◽  
pp. 217-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Jean Kim
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
History Of ◽  
The U.S

AbstractThis article sheds light on the pending affirmative action lawsuit filed by Asian American plaintiffs against Harvard University by providing a brief history of how Asian Americans have been figured (and have figured themselves) in U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence on race-conscious admissions in higher education. It shows that the figuration of Asian Americans has played a critical role in the legal-ideological project of despecifying Black subjection and disavowing racial positionality in the U.S. social order, from Bakke to the present, and argues that a new ‘sociometry’ of race is necessary to help us understand and challenge persistent structures of racial power.

Virginia R. Domínguez on Spellacy and Ibarra

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Mexican Immigrants ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Government Action ◽  
Latin Americans ◽  
Positive Image ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Many ◽  
The U.S

This essay argues that both “pro-Americanism” and “anti-Americanism” appear as plausible referents in these essays by Spellacy and Ibarra, but it stresses that both essays actually raise questions about what is assumed (and perhaps should not be assumed) about U.S. interest in Latin Americans and the consequences of that interest for those who live in one or another country in the Western Hemisphere. Dominguez notes that both Spellacy and Ibarra are likely to surprise readers, though in different ways. That the U.S. was ever really interested in Latin America, and specifically in promoting a positive image of the U.S. in Latin America, may well surprise many current readers of Spellacy’s essay, but it may not be as surprising as Ibarra’s claim that many Mexican immigrants in L.A. are actually fairly “pro-American.” Given the history of U.S. government action in Latin America and the Caribbean since at least the Monroe Doctrine in the early 1800s, any interest among Latin Americans in moving to the U.S. appears as a contradiction. Dominguez is interested in Spellacy’s phrase “making U.S. imperialism go down easy” but asks when and how U.S. imperialism has been noticed and by whom, and when and how it has mattered—and not mattered—to U.S. residents, residents of other countries in the Western Hemisphere, and even people elsewhere. For example, she asks if it might be possible that Sinaloans (and the many other Mexicans who migrate to the U.S. with and without proper U.S. papers) care little about U.S. imperialism and might actually be tacit (or even vocal) supporters of U.S. imperialism.

An American Language

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Language Recognition ◽  
Political Language ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
The U.S

An American Language is a political history of the Spanish language in the United States. The nation has always been multilingual and the Spanish language in particular has remained as an important political issue into the present. After the U.S.-Mexican War, the Spanish language became a language of politics as Spanish speakers in the U.S. Southwest used it to build territorial and state governments. In the twentieth century, Spanish became a political language where speakers and those opposed to its use clashed over what Spanish's presence in the United States meant. This book recovers this story by using evidence that includes Spanish language newspapers, letters, state and territorial session laws, and federal archives to profile the struggle and resilience of Spanish speakers who advocated for their language rights as U.S. citizens. Comparing Spanish as a language of politics and as a political language across the Southwest and noncontiguous territories provides an opportunity to measure shifts in allegiance to the nation and exposes differing forms of nationalism. Language concessions and continued use of Spanish is a measure of power. Official language recognition by federal or state officials validates Spanish speakers' claims to US citizenship. The long history of policies relating to language in the United States provides a way to measure how U.S. visions of itself have shifted due to continuous migration from Latin America. Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are crucial arbiters of Spanish language politics and their successes have broader implications on national policy and our understanding of Americans.

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