Indians, Latinos, & “Aliens”

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From Immigration Prof Blog:

In an interesting online article in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Robert Castro [pdf] analyzes how imageries based on the historical typification of Indians have been projected onto Latina/o immigrant populations that are in the United States without proper documentation. [He] also explore[s] the risk such a typification poses to native-born Latina/o populations who are oftentimes unfairly implicated in surging anti-immigrant backlashes. Key questions this article addresses include: Is the idea of the “Latina/o Threat” materially connected to historical ideas concerning Indian savagery? If so, to what extent is this threat narrative connected to anti-Indian sentiment? How have historical representations of American Indians framed modern debates over the kinds of risks posed by Latina/o immigrants to the U.S.? How have these debates affected recent immigration policy?

Download and read: Indians, Latina/os, and the Alien Morphology of Arizona Senate Bill 1070 [pdf]

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  • Good stuff!  Downloaded to read.  I had never made that connection but I do know there is a lot of ignorance around Latina/os, especially in the Southwest, where there are multi-generational Latino communities.  

    • Hey princss! you know the saying: an “illegal alien” is what descendants of Europeans call descendants of indigenous population (i.e., chicanos/mestizos of mixed Indian heritage).

    • Anonymous

      Hi princss! Living on the far south side of Tucson I can assure you that the ignorance in the Southwest surrounding the indigenous populations is pretty well confined to the upscale end of town, with the folks who made their money someplace else and then retired here.
      In my neck of the desert, 3/8ths of a mile south to the edge of the rez one way, 3/4ths the other, the two principal tribes, Tohono O’odham and Pasqua Yaqui have been hispanicized for centuries.
      My school district is 89% self identified Hispanic. As the White guy I’m a rather distinct minority.
      The tribal languages aren’t yet lost, but even most reservation dwellers are far more fluent in both English and Spanish than they are in their ancestral tongue.
      It’s one of those “You’d really have to live here to get it” kind of things.