Growing Up Latinx: Coming of Age in a Time of Contested Citizenship

by Jesica Siham Fernández

Overview

Winner, Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award of the Section on Children and Youth, given by the American Sociological Association

Finalist for the 2021 C. Wright Mills Award, given by the Society for the Study of Social Problems

Latinx children navigating identity, citizenship, and belonging in a divided America

An estimated sixty million people in the United States are of Latinx descent, with youth under the age of eighteen making up two-thirds of this swiftly growing demographic. In Growing Up Latinx, Jesica Siham Fernández explores the lives of Latinx youth as they grapple with their social and political identities from an early age, and pursue a sense of belonging in their schools and communities as they face an increasingly hostile political climate.

Drawing on interviews with nine-to-twelve-year-olds, Fernández gives us rare insight into how Latinx youth understand their own citizenship and bravely forge opportunities to be seen, to be heard, and to belong. With a compassionate eye, she shows us how they strive to identify, and ultimately redefine, what it means to come of age—and fight for their rights—in a country that does not always recognize them.

Fernández follows Latinx youth as they navigate family, school, community, and country ties, richly detailing their hopes and dreams as they begin to advocate for their right to be treated as citizens in full. Growing Up Latinx invites us to witness the inspiring power of young people as they develop and make heard their political voices, broadening our understanding of citizenship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479801237
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	11/23/2021
Series:	Critical Perspectives on Youth
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Jesica Siham Fernández is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Santa Clara University.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction: Latinx Youth Growing Up in the United States 1

Part I Making Meaning of Citizenship 29

1 Legality as Having Papeles 34

2 Socializing Future Citizens 55

3 Rights as a Privilege 79

Part II Embodying Citizenship 107

4 Citizenship as a Sociopolitical Process 112

5 Claiming Rights beyond State Relations 147

Conclusion: Reimagining Citizenship, Legality, and Rights 169

Acknowledgments 183

Appendix 187

Notes 189

Bibliography 203

Index 219

About the Author 225

Editorial Reviews

"Fernández presents a conceptually thorough and substantively rich account of how Latinx youth embody and make meaning of citizenship…Along with Latinx youth narratives, Fernández grants us with a political vision and sociological future of what democracy will signify in the decades to come."

Ethnic and Racial Studies - Aaron Arredondo

"Precisely one of the values of this book is the author’s explicit valuing of the resilience and the strength of this community and, more specifically, its youth…Growing up Latinx also emphasizes the complex cultural and social identities that the adolescents must navigate."

Feminist Inquiry in Social Work - Yamile M. Martí Haidar

"Fernández presents a conceptually thorough and substantively rich account of how Latinx youth embody and make meaning of citizenship…Along with Latinx youth narratives, Fernández grants us with a political vision and sociological future of what democracy will signify in the decades to come."

Ethnic and Racial Studies

"Growing Up Latinx provides a rich ethnographic account of how racist nativism, immigration policy and enforcement, and dominant ideas about 'good citizenship' play out in the lives of Latinx youth from immigrant and mixed status families. Fernandez powerfully centers Latinx young people’s own critical interpretations of citizenship as a status, a right, and a set of practices. She recognizes these young people as a source of theoretical insight into the multiple and shifting meanings of citizenship, making innovative contributions to the fields of migration studies, Latinx studies, childhood studies, and citizenship studies."

Jessica K. Taft

"Jesica Siham Fernández holds our hands tightly as we cross the borders into Growing up Latinx. With ethnographic care, she tells the stories of many young people and their immigration struggles at the border, including that of 6 year old Jesica, sin papeles, eager to spit up details to satisfy an intimidating border guard. Fernández gifts us a volume saturated in joy, resistance and justice. She insists that 'belonging is an inalienable right' and that citizenship must be understood beyond borders. Few scholars can write, across scale, like this, sketching young lives with grace, animating intimate moments of joy and fear, and accompanying readers as we consider our obligation to build a world not yet in existence."

Michelle Fine

"In Growing Up Latinx, Jesica Siham Fernandez disputes notions of children as 'citizens in the making' who are incapable of critical political understandings and actions.Taking us into the world of 9-12 year olds from mixed immigrant status, low-income families, Fernandez shows us that children are social and political thinkers and actors. This rich ethnography weaves a collective story of pain and possibility as children react to racialized nativism by engaging in acts of citizenship to demand dignity—and the right to belong—for themselves and their families. This book is a welcomed addition to scholarly works on children’s sociopolitical development as it underscores our responsibility to let children find their political voices and enact their political agency."

Nilda Flores-González

"In Growing Up Latinx, Jesica Siham Fernandez disputes notions of children as 'citizens in the making' who are incapable of critical political understandings and actions.Taking us into the world of 9-12 year olds from mixed immigrant status, low-income families, Fernandez shows us that children are social and political thinkers and actors. This rich ethnography weaves a collective story of pain and possibility as children react to racialized nativism by engaging in acts of citizenship to demand dignity—and the right to belong—for themselves and their families. This book is a welcomed addition to scholarly works on children’s sociopolitical development as it underscores our responsibility to let children find their political voices and enact their political agency."

Nilda Flores-González