Building Walls

Reviews / Votes

Castaneda presents a conceptually thorough and theoretically comprehensive account for understanding the structural, discursive, and experiential conditions that racialize and demean the life and presence of Latin people in the United States. We not only observe his contribution to the sociological subject matter but also witness an exemplar of where migration studies stands today. By introducing a framework on Latin racialization and Pan-American racial projects, Castaneda takes critical immigration studies in the direction that is most needed to assess the political, demographic, and racial future of the United States. * Contemporary Sociology * Buildings Walls is likely to appeal to a wide audience because of its strong theoretical underpinnings, applied work on boundary-formation processes, and focus on a unique aspect of the Mexican-origin experience in the United States. These intersecting foci make the book an appropriate choice for advanced undergraduate or graduate courses in political sociology or in the sociology of immigration or courses focused on race and ethnicity in the U.S. context. Overall, Building Walls is a thought-provoking book on an exigent topic, particularly given the rising anti-immigrant rhetoric and increasing hostility toward Mexican immigrants in the United States. While interaction and engagement may not be the ultimate solution, we have already witnessed the consequences of the status quo. * American Journal of Sociology * In their work Building Walls: Excluding Latin People in the United States, Ernesto Castaneda and his coauthors explore the building of boundaries, both symbolic and physical, and the exclusion that these boundaries entail for Latin American and Caribbean populations in the United States. This comprehensive book offers an analysis on three levels. . . Castaneda and his coauthors put forward a wide range of evidence obtained through several methods, above all qualitative and mixed, to show the causes and consequences of the exclusion of Latin people. Their book is highly recommendable for students and experts in several disciplines-including sociology, international relations, and political science-who take an interest in the migratory issue and in the everyday racism, nationalism, and discrimination suffered by the population of Latin American origin in United States. * Latin American Policy * Building Walls brings a much-needed critical race analysis to migration studies. Castaneda draws from a wide variety of sources and voices to paint a picture of the exclusion and racialization experienced by people with origins in Latin America who have made their homes in the United States. Expertly weaving in analyses of nationalism, border vigilantism, white supremacy, and immigration enforcement, Building Walls provides a clear and provocative analysis of our contemporary moment. This book would be an excellent addition to courses on race and migration across a wide variety of disciplines. -- Tanya Golash-Boza, University of California, Merced Despite facing a harsh context of reception, evidence shows that most immigrants today are successfully incorporating into the U.S. Nevertheless, anti-immigrant, and specially, anti-Latino sentiments have seemingly intensified and may have contributed to Trump's presidential victory. Why? This book explains it. Castaneda marshals compelling ethnographic, statistical, and historical evidence to show the roots and consequences of the exclusion of Latin people in the U.S. For those who care about the future of the country, Building Walls is a required text. -- Rene D. Flores, University of Chicago How perfectly fitting that Castaneda has masterfully mapped how detrimental it has been for Latinos when the US has and continues to build walls, as Trump built his campaign and presidency on the promise to build a wall between the US and Mexico. This book is truly timely and relevant because it is a testament of Latino racialization and exclusion, and it demonstrates why building walls does not work to keep immigrants out or to unite a country. -- Celia Lacayo, UCLA This comprehensive and thoughtful book offers an antidote to anti-migrant scapegoating and dehumanization. Meticulously researched and accessibly written, it shines a light on the long history and contributions of Latinos in the U.S., the cultural richness of the borderlands, and the cruelty of the current deportation regime. By placing claims about the 'border crisis' within a longer history of white supremacy, racial profiling, and discrimination, Castaneda offers an incisive counter-narrative to spectacularized media headlines and politicians' invectives. -- Denise Brennan, author of Life Interrupted: Trafficking into Forced Labor in the United States