Reflexiones 1997

Reflexiones is an annual review of the work-in-progress of scholars affiliated with the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Reflexiones 1997, the inaugural edition, highlights the work of scholars in a wide range of disciplines, including history, anthropology, media studies, and sociology. David Montejano, Director of the Center for Mexican American Studies, opens with a piece about the creative ways in which Mexican American and African American scholars, legislators, and citizens mounted a successful response to the Fifth Circuit Court's Hopwood decision, which banned race as a criterion in admissions to public universities in Texas. Yolanda Padilla, of the School of Social Work, considers the poor labor-market outcomes of Mexican immigrants. America Rodriguez, of the Department of Radio, Television, & Film, studies language and class in the racial construction of a "Hispanic audience" for commercial purposes. Jose Limon, of the Departments of Anthropology and English, contemplates Selena, sexuality, and Greater Mexico. Neil Foley, of the Department of History, writes on Mexican Americans and their "Faustian pact" with whiteness. And Eric Meeks, a doctoral candidate in the Department of History, discusses political mobilization and Yaqui identity in Arizona in the 1960s and 1970s. Together, these works in progress provide a vivid cross-section of current research by faculty and students intellectually engaged in issues of concern to the Mexican American community and to Latinos throughout the United States.