Latino Lives in America: Making It Home »

Luis R. Fraga is Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement, Director of the Diversity Research Institute, and Russell F. Stark University Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington.

John A. Garcia is Professor of Political Science at the University of Arizona.

Rodney E. Hero is the Packey J. Dee Professor American Democracy, in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame.

Michael Jones-Correa is Professor of Government at Cornell University.

Valerie Martinez-Ebers is Professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas.

Gary Segura is a Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, and Director of Chicano Studies in the Center for Comparative Studies of Race and Ethnicity.

Latinos are the largest and fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, with increased levels of political mobilization and influence. In the timely and thoroughgoing Latino Lives in America, six prominent Latino scholars explore the profound implications of Latinos' population growth and geographic dispersion for American politics and society, tracking key changes and continuities in Latinos' attitudes, behavior, and social experiences.

Utilizing a unique set of "narratives" from focus group interviews, supplemented with quantitative findings from the 2006 Latino National Survey, the authors provide a snapshot of Latino life in America. The Latinos interviewed provide their thoughts regarding their sense of belonging and group identification, assimilation and transnationalism, housing, education, civic engagement, and perceptions of discrimination, as well as their experiences in new destinations, where they are trying to realize the "Americano" dream.

Latino Lives in America uses these conversations and the survey data to offer both a micro and macro look at how Latinos are transforming various aspects of American politics, culture, and life and how their experiences in the United States are changing them and their families.

Acknowledgments vii

1 The Growing Presence of Latinos in the United States 1

2 Trying for the Americano Dream: Barriers to Making the United States "Home" 28

3 Education: Latinos' Great Hope, America's Harsh Reality 53

4 Exploring Discrimination, Intergroup Relations, and Intragroup Relations among Latinos 69

5 New Homes in New Communities: Living in Rural America 96

6 Transnationalism and the Language of Belonging 119

7 The Evolving Latino Community and Pan-ethnicity: Explorations into the Confluence of Interactions, Networks, and Identity 145

8 Conclusions: Paradoxes along the Way to Making America Home 177

Notes 195

References 197

Index 209