Freighted with meaning, "el barrio" is both place and metaphor for Latino populations in the United States. Though it has symbolized both marginalization and robust and empowered communities, the construct of el barrio has often reproduced static understandings of Latino life; they fail to account for recent demographic shifts in urban centers such as New York, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles, and in areas outside of these historic communities. Beyond El Barrio features new scholarship that critically interrogates how Latinos are portrayed in media, public policy and popular culture, as well as the material conditions in which different Latina/o groups build meaningful communities both within and across national affiliations. Drawing from history, media studies, cultural studies, and anthropology, the contributors illustrate how despite the hypervisibility of Latinos and Latin American immigrants in recent political debates and popular culture, the daily lives of America's new "majority minority" remain largely invisible and mischaracterized. Taken together, these essays provide analyses that not only defy stubborn stereotypes, but also present novel narratives of Latina/o communities that do not fit within recognizable categories. In this way, this book helps us to move "beyond el barrio": beyond stereotype and stigmatizing tropes, as well as nostalgic and uncritical portraits of complex and heterogeneous range of Latina/o lives.
Acknowledgments Introduction Gina M. Perez, Frank A. Guridy, and Adrian Burgos, Jr.Part I Citizenship, Belonging, and (the Limits of) Latina/o Inclusion 1 Singing the "Star-Spanglish Banner" Maria Elena Cepeda 2 "!Puuurrrooo MEXICO!" Dolores Ines Casillas 3 Hayandose Lourdes Gutierrez Najera 4 Becoming Suspect in Usual Places Adrian Burgos, Jr., and Frank A. GuridyPart II Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of Memory and Representation 5 Gay Latino Histories/Dying to Be Remembered Horacio N. Roque Ramirezviii | Contents 6 All About My (Absent) Mother Deborah Paredez 7 Making "The International City" Home Pablo Mitchell and Haley Pollack 8 Hispanic Values, Military Values Gina M. PerezPart III Latina/o Activisms and Histories 9 Going Public? Tampa Youth, Racial Schooling, and Public History in the Cuentos de mi Familia Project John McKiernan-Gonzalez 10 The Mission in Nicaragua: San Francisco Poets Go to War Cary Cordova 11 From the Near West Side to 18th Street: Un/Making Latino/a Barrios in Postwar Chicago Lilia Fernandez 12 Transglocal Barrio Politics Ana Aparicio About the Contributors Index
