Date of Award
5-1-2013
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Anthropology
First Advisor
Fuller, Janet
Abstract
The study of Latinos in the Midwestern United States is still a largely under researched territory. Until the early 2000s, the only major sources of information about Latinos in the Midwest came from surveys done in the early 20th century that investigated patterns of Mexican immigration and labor (Martinez 2011:3,4). With the influx of more Latin@s from multiple countries of origin, researchers have expanded their topics to include issues on assimilation, transnationalism, and identity (Saenz 2011: 33-34). However, these studies paint the immigrant population as affected by the host society without consideration for how the host society may be influenced by them (Tello Buntin 2011: 228). Another issue in the literature is that Latinos are consistently categorized by language, specifically Spanish (Saenz 2011: 36. 37). For this research, I am investigating the ways that Mexican community members talk about language and identity within the context of living in CC-town, Illinois. In general, this project explores what identities are being indexed by Mexican family members living in the town and how they index their identities through language.
Access
This thesis is only available for download to the SIUC community. Current SIUC affiliates may also access this paper off campus by searching Dissertations & Theses @ Southern Illinois University Carbondale from ProQuest. Others should contact the interlibrary loan department of your local library or contact ProQuest's Dissertation Express service.