Five Generations of a Mexican American Family in Los Angeles: The Fuentes StoryRowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007 M04 9 - 198 pages Despite their citizenship and English monolingualism, Mexican Americans have long been known to remain largely working class, which, academically, has meant that they tend to be mostly high school graduates, with low rates of college attendance and completion. Attempting to understand this phenomenon, Five Generations of a Mexican American Family in Los Angeles chronicles the home, work and school lives of the author's multigenerational family throughout the twentieth century. Using oral histories of 33 members across five generations, the Fuentes story illuminates the interaction between race, ethnicity and class at home, in the labor market and in schools, which circumscribe the opportunity and resources (or lack thereof) for academic success. Generally, findings show that these factors work together to reproduce the family's social standing over generations. Equally important, the analysis reveals how the persistence and strength of the Fuentes' heritage cultural values (buena educaci-n and familism) have insulated them from the continued threat of racial discrimination and economic hardship in American life. The Fuentes story provides the reader with a keen view of the process by which Fuentes' moved from immigrants to ethnic Americans, and shows how they have gracefully survived the harsh and unpredictable nature of being of a racial minority and the working class. |
From inside the book
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Page vii
... lower white - collar jobs , later - generation Chicanos re- main largely working class ( A. Gonzalez 2001 ; Ortiz 1996 ) . According to A. Gonzalez ( 2001 ) , U.S. - born Mexican Americans vii Preface.
... lower white - collar jobs , later - generation Chicanos re- main largely working class ( A. Gonzalez 2001 ; Ortiz 1996 ) . According to A. Gonzalez ( 2001 ) , U.S. - born Mexican Americans vii Preface.
Page xi
... class encom- passes the economic , material , social , and educational ... class position ; one's ethnicity affects one's class position and racial expe- rience ... work on immigration has contended with influxes of Latino and Southeast ...
... class encom- passes the economic , material , social , and educational ... class position ; one's ethnicity affects one's class position and racial expe- rience ... work on immigration has contended with influxes of Latino and Southeast ...
Page 3
... working class families ( Rubin 1994 ) the large amount of re- sponsibilities and little disposable time , income , and energy often factor vigorous parental involvement out of the survival equation . In those days , what I remember most ...
... working class families ( Rubin 1994 ) the large amount of re- sponsibilities and little disposable time , income , and energy often factor vigorous parental involvement out of the survival equation . In those days , what I remember most ...
Page 4
... lower working - class neighborhood flooded with newly ar- rived Latino immigrants . Though we had previously lived among Mexi- cans ( or Mexican immigrants ) in Texas , the social space between the Mex- icanos in our neighborhood and my ...
... lower working - class neighborhood flooded with newly ar- rived Latino immigrants . Though we had previously lived among Mexi- cans ( or Mexican immigrants ) in Texas , the social space between the Mex- icanos in our neighborhood and my ...
Page 5
... lower tracks of secondary school . Interestingly , however , most of my friends were not in any of my classes . I had miraculously managed to befriend ( or they befriended me ) middle - class white , Jewish , or Asian girls from the ...
... lower tracks of secondary school . Interestingly , however , most of my friends were not in any of my classes . I had miraculously managed to befriend ( or they befriended me ) middle - class white , Jewish , or Asian girls from the ...
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Common terms and phrases
African Americans Anglo attended barrio brother buena educación Carlos Fuentes Chávez Chicano English Chicano movement chil child children's schooling claimed cohort counselor Cristian daughter despite Dora eleventh grade Elisa encouraged English Erica ethnic experienced family's father fifth-generation Florencia fourth-generation members Francis Fuentes children Fuentes family Fuentes home Fuentes members Fuentes parents Fuentes's Gerald grade graduate groups high school Hispanic homework Isabel Ivan junior high Katarina kids labor market language Latino families Latino students Laura learned literacy lives Los Angeles County Lydia Mario and Manuela married Mexican American families Mexican and Mexican Mexican immigrant middle-class mother Natalie Noemi older third-generation parental involvement participants percent race racial recalled responsibility role Samuel San Fernando Valley school experience second-generation Fuentes second-generation members siblings Simon sister social Spanish Spanish language story success teachers third-generation members Timothy tion tracks Valley wanted workers working-class younger Yvette