In the last ten years, the growing Latino population in the United States has been attracting a great deal of attention that has focused on the social, political, economic, cultural, and linguistic transformations that communities across the country are undergoing due to the influx of Latin American immigrants. Particularly affected by these recent arrivals have been towns and cities that have been traditionally unaccustomed to significant numbers of foreign nationals in their area. Latinos and the U.S. South delves into the commonalities and dissimilarities between the varieties of Latino and U.S. Southern cultures, proposing that the manner in which these areas adapt to the challenges posed by the arrival of these most recent Hispanic residents heralds the present and future conduct of other communities receiving nontraditional Latino immigration in the United States today.Through an analysis that incorporates historical research, existing legislation, and economic trends and statistics, and explores U.S. Southern and Latin American literatures, religious customs, the construction of a U.S. Southern identity, current events such as Hurricane Katrina, present tensions, and personal experience, Latinos and the U.S. South offers a window into how Latinos are adapting to an emblematic yet often overlooked region of the United States and the possible parallels between the two.

The manner in which communities in the U.S. South are accomodating the most recent immigrants from Latin American nations forecasts the impact that these populations will have on other parts of the United States that are historically nontraditional areas of Latin American immigration.

PrefaceIntroductionI. HistoriesII. The United States, the U.S. South, Latinos, and Beyond: Current Initial ConfluencesIII. The Immigration of Latinos: The Diaspora WithinIV: The Rivers Edge: The Mexican Border and the Ohio RiverV. Economics, the U.S. South, Latinos, and the Cultural DollarVI. Politics: Caudillos and Good Ole BoysVII. Literature as MirrorVIII. What Lies Beneath: Music and Land in the U.S. South and Latin AmericaIX. Religion: An Equal PraiseX. TensionsXI. The FutureNotesBibliography