This dissertation examines the racial identities of middleclass Mexican Americans,
and provides a focus on how racial oppression plays a significant role in the formation,
negotiation, and organization of these identities. Providing theoretical, analytic, and
conceptual balance between structure and agency, this dissertation addresses how these
Mexican Americans continue to experience racism despite being middleclass and
achieving socioeconomic parity with many middleclass whites. Drawing on 67 semistructured
open ended interviews (1-3 hours each), 10 months of ethnography in Phoenix
and San Antonio, as well as a descriptive analysis of the Alamo monument website and
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office 2011 press releases this dissertation examines how
middleclass Latinos/as negotiate racialized identities and racial oppression.
This research concludes that these respondents experience significant amounts of
racism in the cities of Phoenix and San Antonio. The racial climates of these cities
impose racist discourse about Latinos/as and ultimately reinforce and reinscribe existing
racial hierarchies of the United States. Middleclass Mexican Americans utilize different
identity practices to navigate the racism of these discourse by providing various
negotiation, deflection, and resistance practices. Ultimately this dissertation recognizes
that middleclass Mexican American identities are a constant negotiation of imposed
racial identities and their own understandings of their racial self.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/151258 |
| Date | 16 December 2013 |
| Creators | Delgado, Daniel Justino |
| Contributors | Feagin, Joe R, Saenz, Rogelio, Gatson, Sarah, Hinojosa, Felipe |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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