Enforcing Borders in the Nuevo South

Abstract

Drawing from ethnographic research in the Research Triangle of North Carolina andWilliamsburg, Virginia, the authors build on Anzaldúa's conceptualization of "borderlands" to analyze how borders of social membership are constructed and enforced in "el Nuevo South." Our gender analysis reveals that intersecting structural conditions-the labor market, the organization of public space, and the institutional organization of health care and other public services-combine with gendered processes in the home and family to regulate women's participation in community life. Enforcers of borders include institutional actors, mostly women, in social services and clinics who occupy institutional locations that enable them to define who is entitled to public goods and to categorize migrants as undeserving "others." We reveal how a particularly configured matrix of domination transcends the spheres of home, work, and community to constrain women migrants' physical and economic mobility and personal autonomy and to inhibit their participation in their societies of reception.The psychological borderlands, the sexual borderlands, and spiritual borderlands are not particular to the Southwest. In fact the Borderlands are physically present wherever two or more cultures edge each other, where people of different races occupy the same territory, where under, lower, middle and upper classes touch, where the space between two individuals shrinks with intimacy.

Healthcare Experiences of Latinos in a Nontraditional Destination Area

“…Problems appear to be exacerbated in nontraditional destination areas where infrastructure has not met demand. In qualitative studies, Latinos in nontraditional destination areas have reported problems with healthcare quality (Blewett et al, 2003;Casey, Blewett, & Call, 2004;Cristancho, Garces, Peters, & Mueller, 2008;Erwin, 2003;Perilla, Wilson, Wold, & Spencer, 1998), including negative reactions and animosity from frontline staff at healthcare settings (Deeb-sossa & Bickham Mendez, 2008). In our own area, a previous survey found that the majority of Latinos in the Greater Cincinnati area felt that they received lower quality healthcare than non-Latinos (Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, 2006).…”

Multigenerational Punishment: Shared Experiences of Undocumented Immigration Status Within Mixed‐Status Families

“…The criminalization of Latino men makes them more likely than Latina women or non-Latinas/os to be targeted for detention and deportation (Golash-Boza & Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2013). Furthermore gender roles differentiate when undocumented parents confront immigration laws given that women's caretaking role leads them to contend with the limitations of their immigration status as they access social services for their children (Deeb-Sossa & Bickham Mendez, 2008;Schmalzbauer, 2009). Growing up in the United States and participating in K-12 education leads 1.5-generation undocumented young adults to acculturate to U.S. norms and feel a stronger sense of belonging in the United States than the first generation (Abrego, 2008(Abrego, , 2011.…”

Immigrants, Immigration, and Sociology: Reflecting on the State of the Discipline

“…Whereas some scholars note that immigration today may lead to a redrawing of the old color line or the drawing of a new line (Lee and Bean 2007), which is no longer cast in the black-white divide, other scholars argue that there could actually be a reinforcement of the old black-white dichotomy when immigrants engage in practices to that distance themselves from blacks (Marrow 2009), or when access to goods and services create divisions that reinforce old racial and ethnic boundaries (Deeb-Sossa and Bickham Mendez 2008). Focusing on the durability of ethnic boundaries, Jiménez (2008) observes that uninterrupted migration may in fact contribute to sharpen boundaries as diversity within groups is amplified through immigrant replenishment.…”