Mexicana Roots and Routes

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 Juarez 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-Chavez Lillian Gorman Gloria Holguin Cuadraz Anita Huizar-Hernandez Christine Marin Valerie A. Martinez Alina R. Mendez Karen R. Roybal Yvette J. Saavedra Liliana Toledo-Guzman Andrea Tovar