Latinx Belonging: Community Building and Resilience in the United States. Edited by Natalia Deeb Sosa and Jennifer Bickham Mendez

Abstract

This anthology asserts that the lives and experiences of people who trace their origins and heritage to Latin American contexts—Latinxs—hold important lessons about belonging, membership, and inclusion in the twenty-first century, not only for the United States but for culturally and racially diverse nations around the world (p. 3). Eleven case studies present the varied realities of documented, undocumented, and mixed- status people from Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, and other countries in different cities as diverse as San Francisco, California (a sanctuary city) and Williamsburg, Virginia. A major strength of the book is the palpable commitment that contributors have vis-à-vis the communities they interact with in their research. The authors note their longstanding relationships and political alignments with the Latina/o immigrant communities. They have also served as advocates and volunteered with community-based organizations. Gilda L. Ochoa has over thirty years of experience in El Puente, California, and chronicles the process that led to the creation of the Puente Coalition and the subsequent passage of sanctuary resolutions by the city council. Stephanie L. Canizales shares that her father had been an unaccompanied minor from El Salvador and was familiar with the neighborhood where she was conducting research on unaccompanied Mayan immigrant youth in Los Angeles, thereby facilitating her research.