Latino Workers in the Contemporary South

by Arthur D. Murphy (Editor), Colleen Blanchard (Editor), Jennifer A. Hill (Editor), Rubén Hernández-León (Contribution by), Karen Richman (Contribution by)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820322797
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	03/01/2001
Series:	Southern Anthropological Society Proceedings Series , #29
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

Arthur D. Murphy (Editor)
ARTHUR D. MURPHY is a professor of anthropology and geography at Georgia State University.

Colleen Blanchard (Editor)
COLLEEN BLANCHARD is the research coordinator for applied research in anthropology at Georgia State University.

Jennifer A. Hill (Editor)
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 and 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 and 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 and 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, and Jeronimo Camposeco
Language and the Migrant Worker Experience in Rural North Carolina Communities
Jack G. Dale, Susan Andreatta, and Elizabeth Freeman
Immigration and the Organization of the Onshore Oil Industry: Southern Louisiana in the Late 1990s
Katherine M. Donato, Carl L. Bankston, and 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 Zúñiga and Rubén Hernández-León
List of Contributors

Editorial Reviews

A significant contribution toward understanding the sudden and unprecedented influx of Latinos into the American South.

Journal of Appalachian Studies

"A significant contribution toward understanding the sudden and unprecedented influx of Latinos into the American South.”--Journal of Appalachian Studies

"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

"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

From the Publisher