The University of Arizona Press
meXicana Roots and Routes
Listening to People, Places, and Pasts
Paperback ($35.00), Hardcover ($100.00), Ebook ($35.00)
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Community voices are often an underrepresented aspect of our historical and cultural knowledge of the U.S. Southwest.
In this collection, established and emerging scholars draw upon their rootedness in the U.S. Southwest and U.S.-Mexico borderlands. The meXicana contributors use personal and scholarly inquiry to discuss what it means to cultivate spaces of belonging, navigate language policies, and explore and excavate silences in various spaces, among other important themes.
From the recruitment of Latinas for the U.S. Benito Juárez Squadron in World War II, to the early twentieth-century development of bilingual education in Arizona, to new and insightful analyses of Bracero Program participants and their families, the book details little-known oral histories and archival material to present a rich account of lives along the border with emphasis on women and the working class.
As the inaugural publication of the Arizona Crossroads series, readers will find Arizona featured as a central node of borderlands roots and routes. Each section of the book intentionally centers Arizona within broader comparative and cross-state dialogues, alongside chapters that reflect regional concerns in other southwestern states, including Texas, California, Colorado, and New Mexico. Throughout, this volume highlights the ways in which personal experience, community building, and scholarly perspectives can provide a powerful space for community voices.
Contributors
Vanessa Fonseca-Chávez
Lillian Gorman
Gloria Holguín Cuádraz
Anita Huízar-Hernández
Christine Marin
Valerie A. Martínez
Alina R. Méndez
Karen R. Roybal
Yvette J. Saavedra
Liliana Toledo-Guzmán
Andrea Tovar
In this collection, established and emerging scholars draw upon their rootedness in the U.S. Southwest and U.S.-Mexico borderlands. The meXicana contributors use personal and scholarly inquiry to discuss what it means to cultivate spaces of belonging, navigate language policies, and explore and excavate silences in various spaces, among other important themes.
From the recruitment of Latinas for the U.S. Benito Juárez Squadron in World War II, to the early twentieth-century development of bilingual education in Arizona, to new and insightful analyses of Bracero Program participants and their families, the book details little-known oral histories and archival material to present a rich account of lives along the border with emphasis on women and the working class.
As the inaugural publication of the Arizona Crossroads series, readers will find Arizona featured as a central node of borderlands roots and routes. Each section of the book intentionally centers Arizona within broader comparative and cross-state dialogues, alongside chapters that reflect regional concerns in other southwestern states, including Texas, California, Colorado, and New Mexico. Throughout, this volume highlights the ways in which personal experience, community building, and scholarly perspectives can provide a powerful space for community voices.
Contributors
Vanessa Fonseca-Chávez
Lillian Gorman
Gloria Holguín Cuádraz
Anita Huízar-Hernández
Christine Marin
Valerie A. Martínez
Alina R. Méndez
Karen R. Roybal
Yvette J. Saavedra
Liliana Toledo-Guzmán
Andrea Tovar
“meXicana Roots and Routes is a robust interdisciplinary collection of work that amplifies how Chicanx communities in the U.S. Southwest are deeply rooted in the political, social, cultural, and educational spaces of the region.”—Monica De La Torre, author of Feminista Frequencies
“The authors in this volume use their ears—via ethnography, oral history, translation studies, and sound studies—to follow the roots and routes of social movements, community building, and political ideals in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Follow their lead to understand meXicanidad. Listen.”—Flannery Burke, author of A Land Apart: The Southwest and the Nation in the Twentieth Century
“meXicana Roots and Routes brings to light lives, events, and voices that deserve our attention. From the recruitment of Latinas for the U.S. Benito Juárez Squadron in World War II, to the early twentieth-century development of bilingual education in Arizona, to new and insightful analyses of Bracero Program participants and their families, the book details little-known oral histories and archival material to present a rich account of Mexican American lives along the border, with important emphasis on women and the working class. This book is an essential read for scholars of Mexican American studies and of the borderlands.”—Erin Murrah-Mandril, author of In the Mean Time: The Temporal Colonization of Mexican America
“The authors in this volume use their ears—via ethnography, oral history, translation studies, and sound studies—to follow the roots and routes of social movements, community building, and political ideals in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Follow their lead to understand meXicanidad. Listen.”—Flannery Burke, author of A Land Apart: The Southwest and the Nation in the Twentieth Century
“meXicana Roots and Routes brings to light lives, events, and voices that deserve our attention. From the recruitment of Latinas for the U.S. Benito Juárez Squadron in World War II, to the early twentieth-century development of bilingual education in Arizona, to new and insightful analyses of Bracero Program participants and their families, the book details little-known oral histories and archival material to present a rich account of Mexican American lives along the border, with important emphasis on women and the working class. This book is an essential read for scholars of Mexican American studies and of the borderlands.”—Erin Murrah-Mandril, author of In the Mean Time: The Temporal Colonization of Mexican America
344 Pages
6 x 9
Published: September 2025Paperback ISBN: 9780816555130
Published: September 2025Hardcover ISBN: 9780816555147
Published: September 2025Ebook ISBN: 9780816555154