Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Lure of Whiteness and the Politics of "Otherness": Mexican American Racial Identity

本论文采用了一种建构的种族方法，研究墨西哥裔美国人在历史上和现在都给自己贴上标签的方式。在这一框架内，种族或族裔认同被视为一个过程，在这个过程中，通过外部力量和更多的社会心理因素来谈判认同。一系列复杂的因素影响着族裔或种族身份的构建，以及各群体如何选择呼唤共同的历史和文化。 由于种族/民族识别过程的复杂性，我依靠多种方法，包括档案资源的历史分析，人口普查数据分析，并深入访谈，以帮助获得更透彻的了解墨西哥裔美国人的种族识别。 我研究了有关1930年人口普查和墨西哥种族分类的发展，以及墨西哥裔美国人的游说努力，反对这种种族化的身份，赞成政治承认为“白色的历史文件。“然后，我探讨了当代墨西哥裔美国人的身份，这反映在目前美国人口普查的种族自我报告中，以及墨西哥裔和盎格鲁裔通婚家庭中儿童的报告模式中。最后，我进行了60个深入的采访，墨西哥裔美国人在得克萨斯州的五个城市的战略样本，调查等因素的社会经济地位，种族组成的邻里，接近美墨边境，社交网络，出生/移民历史，西班牙语流利，身体外观和政治态度影响自己的种族和民族的身份和他们的标签选择为他们的孩子。 该项目有助于对拉丁裔身份的奖学金，以及解决多个变量的发展和种族和民族身份的显着性的重要性，不仅在美国人口普查，但在更广泛的美国社会更广泛的问题。

This dissertation takes a constructed ethnicity approach, examining the ways in which Mexican Americans label themselves both historically and currently. Within this framework, racial or ethnic identity is viewed as a process whereby identity is negotiated both through external forces and more social psychological factors. A complex set of factors influence the construction of ethnic or racial identities and how groups choose to call on shared history and culture. Because of the complexity of the racial/ethnic identification process, I rely on multiple methodologies including historical analysis of archival resources, census data analysis, and in-depth interviews to help garner a more thorough understanding of the racial identification of Mexican Americans. I examine historical documents pertaining to the 1930 Census and the development of the Mexican racial classification, as well as Mexican American lobbying efforts against this racialized identity in favor of political recognition as "White." I then explore contemporary Mexican American identity as reflected in current racial self-reporting on the U.S. Census and in the reporting patterns for children in households with Mexican-Anglo intermarriages. Finally, I conduct sixty in-depth interviews with a strategic sample of Mexican Americans in five Texas cities, investigating how such factors as socioeconomic status, racial composition of neighborhood, proximity to the US-Mexico border, social networks, nativity/migration history, Spanish language fluency, physical appearance, and political attitudes affect their own racial and ethnic identifications and their labeling choices for their children. This project contributes to scholarship on Latino identity, as well as addresses broader issues of the importance of multiple variables in the development and salience of racial and ethnic identities not only in the US Census, but in the broader US society.