Contested Americans

Cassaundra Rodriguez

ISBN 10: 1479800538 / ISBN 13: 9781479800537

Published by New York University Press, US, 2023

About this Item

Honorable Mention, Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, given by the Latino/a Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association 2023 C. Wright Mills Award Finalist Reveals the impossible choices and downright terror mixed-status families often face for their loved ones Living in a mixed-status immigrant family might mean that your grandmother could be deported at any moment, your son could be arrested at work, or your mother's deportation hearing is postponed-again. Such uncertainty and fear are the reality of life for mixed-status families-those that include both undocumented immigrants and US citizens. In Contested Americans, Cassaundra Rodriguez explores how members of mixed-status families experience and articulate belonging in the United States. The sixteen million people in the US who fall under this classification share the fear of a family member's possible deportation or the anxiety of leaving behind a child or elderly relative. Rodriguez highlights how different members of the same mixed-status families mediate undocumented statuses while maintaining the collective whole of a family. For many young adults, this may mean negotiating the sponsorship of their immigrant parents, and for the parents, planning for the emotional, physical, and financial well-being of their children in case of deportation. Contested Americans is a timely book, filled with vivid storytelling, that shows how immigration policies, racism, and privilege collide in the backdrop of the lives of millions of mixed-status families.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781479800537

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Contested Americans
• Publisher: New York University Press, US
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1479800538
• ISBN 13: 9781479800537
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Honorable Mention, Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, given by the Latino/a Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association

2023 C. Wright Mills Award Finalist

Reveals the impossible choices and downright terror mixed-status families often face for their loved
ones

Living in a mixed-status immigrant family might mean that your grandmother could be deported at any moment, your son could be arrested at work, or your mother’s deportation hearing is postponed―again. Such uncertainty and fear are the reality of life for mixed-status families―those that include both undocumented immigrants and US citizens. In Contested Americans, Cassaundra Rodriguez explores how members of mixed-status families experience and articulate belonging in the United States. The sixteen million people in the US who fall under this classification share the fear of a family member’s possible deportation or the anxiety of leaving behind a child or elderly relative.

Rodriguez highlights how different members of the same mixed-status families mediate undocumented statuses while maintaining the collective whole of a family. For many young adults, this may mean negotiating the sponsorship of their immigrant parents, and for the parents, planning for the emotional, physical, and financial well-being of their children in case of deportation.

Contested Americans is a timely book, filled with vivid storytelling, that shows how immigration policies, racism, and privilege collide in the backdrop of the lives of millions of mixed-status families.

About the Author

Cassaundra Rodriguez is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is the author of Contested Americans: Mixed-Status Families in Anti-Immigrant Times, which was a finalist for the C.Wright Mills Award.