The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation

摘要

From the raw material of popular and elite discourse about the perils of immigration, Leo Chavez constructs a 'Latino Threat' narrative, a set of interrelated beliefs and assumptions about Latinos that is toxic and untrue. A primary goal of this book is to demonstrate that the negative stereotypes are pervasive and unrelenting, obscuring the many contributions Latinos make in US society and fomenting harsh restrictive laws and policies. Chavez traces the narrative back 40 years and sometimes more, citing arguments from a wide range of sources, including respected media outlets and academic authors like Samuel Huntington and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. The narrative draws its power from its pervasiveness - false claims and premises tend to become, upon repetition, common-sense truths, as Gramsci and others have suggested. The narrative has great inertial power because it is unquestioned; inconvenient facts are mostly ignored. The September 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, Chavez suggests, amplified already existing concerns about the threats immigrants pose and the 'porosity' of US borders.