Narratives of Mexican American Women: Emergent Identities of the Second Generation - Hardcover

García, Alma M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0759101817 ISBN 13: 9780759101814

Publisher: AltaMira Press, 2003

Synopsis

Alma Garc'a offers a bold new interpretation of identity formation for second generation immigrants in America. The narratives of Mexican American women in higher education reveal their journeys of self-discovery, a process filled with tensions, contradictions, and ambiguities. Garc'a captures the spirit of their struggles to understand their sense of self, culture, and society. Her qualitative analyses reveal the emergent processes by which these women negotiate ethnic, gender, and class identities with their Mexican immigrant parents and with their university communities. Garc'a integrates a wide range of theoretical frameworks to study educational life experiences. Her findings offer significant insight into the processes of cultural continuity and change and the potential for upward mobility for immigrants. Garc'a proposes new university policies and curriculum changes to improve the situation for second-generation students. She calls for the reform of higher education in the United States, to open its doors more widely to Mexican American students and other underrepresented groups, to make the educational system truly reflective of the ethnic diversity that has always formed the core of American society. Garc'a's new book is a valuable contribution to Mexican American studies, ethnic studies, women's studies, comparative education, and sociology.

About this title

About the Author

Alma Garcia is professor of sociology at Santa Clara University. She is the author of Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings. Her research includes Chicano/a studies, race, class and gender, and qualitative research methods.

Review

After the 1965 Immigration Act eased restrictions on immigration, and as the children of post-1965 immigrants are coming of age, research on the 'new second generation' is gaining increasing momentum. Alma Garcia's exciting exegesis, Narratives of Mexican American Women: Emergent Identities of the Second Generation, is an important addition to this growing literature. Through the voices of women college students, Garcia examines the emergence and development of ethnic identity among second-generation Mexican American women. Bridging social constructionist and postmodernist frameworks, Garcia shows how these women construct and negotiate ethnic boundaries, identities, and cultures between and within the spaces of their immigrant homes, the educational environments, and the larger society. This book is a valuable resource for researchers, instructors, and students in the fields of immigration, ethnic identity, women's studies, and Mexican Americans. (Pyong Gap Min, Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York)

This is a wonderful book―an engaging and timely study of intertwining perspectives and subjectivities in women's lives. You can read Narratives of Mexican American Women for the poignant and powerful stories. At the same time, you will learn aboutthe new second generation and the social worlds these women inhabit. . .a valuable contribution to racial-ethnic studies, immigration research and feminismmmm (Maxine Baca Zinn, Michigan State University)

Garcìa (soiciology, Santa Clara Univ.) fills a niche in immigrant studies by crafting this interdisciplinary study of second-generation Mexican American women attending US colleges. Written in a very engaging style, the study is structured within postmodernist, feminist, and social consrtuctionist theoretical orientations....a finely focused study of a specific group that should serve commendably as the basis for establishing future higher education policy, as the author had hoped....Highly Recommended. (J. B. Wolford, Missouri Historical Society CHOICE)

A benchmark contribution to the fields of Chicana/o studies, gender studies, sociology, and education. With an ethnography that sparkles, Alma García provides an incisive, intimate portrait of Chicana college students. A bold, new interpretation on identity formation, Narratives of Mexican American Women is an exciting, transdisciplinary study that advances our understanding of Mexican American youth. (Vicki Ruiz, University of California, Irvine, and author of From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in 20th Century America)

This is a wonderful book―an engaging and timely study of intertwining perspectives and subjectivities in women's lives. You can read Narratives of Mexican American Women for the poignant and powerful stories. At the same time, you will learn about the new second generation and the social worlds these women inhabit. . .a valuable contribution to racial-ethnic studies, immigration research and feminism (Maxine Baca Zinn, Michigan State University)

About this edition

• Publisher: AltaMira Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0759101817
• ISBN 13: 9780759101814
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256