B oo k Re vie w
M e x i c a n o s i n O r e go n : T h e i r s t o r i e s , t h e i r lives Erlinda V. Gonzales-Berry and Marcela Mendoza Oregon State University Press, OR, 2010, 296pp., $22.95, ISBN: 978-0870715846 (paperback) Latino Studies (2012) 10, 610–612. doi:10.1057/lst.2012.45
Mexicanos in Oregon is a timely critical study that chronicles the history of migration, settlement and contributions by different generations of Mexican and Mexican Americans, referred to as mexicanos, in Oregon from the midnineteenth century to the contemporary period. The authors, pioneer Chicana critic Erlinda Gonzales-Berry and Argentine scholar Marcela Mendoza, contend that Mexican im/migrants as a group differ substantially from previous ones such as those of European background in their movement to Oregon because the former have been subjected to discrimination based on race, class and legal status. By incorporating a multi-disciplinary approach, including archival records, demographic statistics, scholarly criticism and oral testimonies, the critics offer a dynamic portrait of the complexity of migration of mexicanos in this age of globalization and increasing resistance to immigration from south of border to the United States. The scholars challenge many preconceptions regarding Mexican im/migrants as represented in conventional academic circles and the media by uncovering the human dimension of the mexicano experience in Oregon, one
that may be compared with other cultures and im/migrants in similar regions of the United States. This critical book compares the different kinds of migrations of mexicanos taking place within the United States to transnational ones that cross the US/Mexico border. In the introduction, the critics present their own biographical narratives as a way to disseminate the points of contact and difference with their subjects of investigation. Whereas GonzalesBerry discusses her Southwest heritage influenced by generations of indigenous, Mexican and Spanish cultures, Mendoza explains that she is a native Argentine of a hybrid European heritage who has lived and worked with Mexican communities in the United States. They also provide an overview of the seven chapters, each of which is followed by testimonies of the subject matter, mexicanos. Because both critics are fluent in Spanish, the native tongue for many of their subjects, they were able to incorporate the testimonial component as a primary source in English translation. This substantially enriches the reader’s understanding of the migratory experience of mexicanos.
r 2012 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 10, 4, 610–612 www.palgrave-journals.com/lst/
Book Review
This methodology also attests to the necessity of learning a language other than English in the contemporary United States for practical and intellectual purposes. Even though many scholars attempt to give an “objective” perspective of their study by maintaining a distance from their subject matter, Gonzales-Berry and Mendoza combine the social science approach to history with personal testimonies of mexicanos to provide a more nuanced picture involved in tracking the migrations. By juxtaposing oral with traditional written histories, the critics demonstrate that the human dimension and immediacy of this kind of scholarship should matter to the reader who may be more accustomed to the limited representations of mexicanos in the media. In Chapters 1 and 2 of Mexicanos in Oregon, Gonzales-Berry and Mendoza trace the presence of Mexicans in Oregon from the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries. Mexican nationals have migrated directly from their homeland in Mexico during moments of economic and political turmoil. Simultaneously, longtime Mexican migrants have moved from states such as Texas to Oregon in search of better employment opportunities. The critics also caution that the migrations to Oregon should not be fully equated with that of the Southwest experience because Mexicans are perceived as “foreigners” in Oregon rather than as a community who can reclaim a lost homeland that the United States overtook from Mexico in 1848. In this respect, geography and history are urgent factors that need to be addressed to better understand the Mexican experience of sojourners and settlers to Oregon. In Chapters 3 and 4, Gonzales-Berry and Mendoza address the legal context and public policy of immigration to the United States in a broader sense to understand Mexican migration to Oregon in the last two decades. The Immigration Act of 1986 and the North
American Free Trade Agreement, for example, have played key roles in limiting migrations from Mexico through the militarization of the US/Mexico border. Instead of controlling immigration in a diplomatic manner, undocumented mexicano workers have paid with their lives at the hands of abusive treatment by the US Border Patrol, a human situation affecting many migrants all over the world. The increasing globalized labor force, economic necessity and social inequality in Mexico have also affected a diversity of mexicanos who need to look for alternatives beyond the nation to survive. For instance, more indigenous groups from Mexico from regions such as Oaxaca have migrated to Oregon and at times, confront more complications due to differences of their indigenous language, race, class and legal status. The scholars also reveal the shifting patterns that mexicanos have developed from agricultural work to industry in the cities in Oregon that contribute to the formation of a developing middle-class and networking system. In Chapters 5 and 6, Gonza´les-Berry and Mendoza further explore education, gender and generational differences in comprehending the dynamics of family in the migration of mexicanos to Oregon. The critics examine the cultural context of the women in the community as they take on multiple tasks to care for their families in the absence of their husbands who may have left the home for work. Although they address how domestic violence can hinder women’s progress, they also trace how community services have played a key role in helping women survive their dire circumstances. Due to modernity, Gonzales-Berry and Mendoza also demonstrate how a younger generation of mexicanos is becoming more educated, and thereby learning how to negotiate modern and traditional values in the development of a new cultural identity.
r 2012 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435
Latino Studies Vol. 10, 4, 610–612
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Book Review
Mexicanos in Oregon is a significant contribution to scholars and students in Latino Studies because it illustrates how an ethnic group of Latinos not only confronted a myriad of social injustices, but also managed to persevere against the odds by demonstrating
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que sı´ se puede. This kind of migration is happening at the local and global levels today.
r 2012 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435
Juanita Heredia Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
Latino Studies Vol. 10, 4, 610–612
