Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network (Issues of Globalization:Case Studies in Contemporary Anthropology) - Softcover

Gomberg-Muñoz, Ruth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199739382 ISBN 13: 9780199739387

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Winner of the 2011 ALLA Book Award honorable mention!

Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network is an ethnography of undocumented immigrants who work as busboys at a Chicago-area restaurant. Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz introduces readers to the Lions, ten friends from Mexico committed to improving their fortunes and the lives of their families. Set in and around "Il Vino," a restaurant that could stand in for many places that employ undocumented workers, Labor and Legality reveals the faces behind the war being waged over "illegal aliens" in America. Gomberg-Muñoz focuses on how undocumented workers develop a wide range of social strategies to cultivate financial security, nurture emotional well-being, and promote their dignity and self-esteem. She also reviews the political and historical circumstances of undocumented migration, with an emphasis on post-1970 socioeconomic and political conditions in the United States and Mexico.

Labor and Legality is one of several volumes in the Issues of Globalization: Case Studies in Contemporary Anthropology series, which examines the experiences of individual communities in our contemporary world. Each volume offers a brief and engaging exploration of a particular issue arising from globalization and its cultural, political, and economic effects on certain peoples or groups. Ideal for introductory anthropology courses-and as supplements for a variety of upper-level courses-these texts seamlessly combine portraits of an interconnected and globalized world with narratives that emphasize the agency of their subjects.

About this title

About the Author:

Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Loyola University Chicago. Her work has also been published in American Anthropologist, Human Organization, and the DuBois Review.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0199739382
• ISBN 13: 9780199739387
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184