Perspectives on Las Américas: A Reader in Culture, History,and Representation charts new territory by demonstrating thelimits of neatly demarcating the regions of 'LatinAmerica' and the 'United States'. This landmarkvolume presents key readings that collectively examine thehistorical, cultural, economic, and political integration ofLatina/os across the Americas, thereby challenging the barriersbetween Latina/o Studies and Latin American/Caribbean Studies.* * Brings together key readings that collectively examine thehistorical, cultural, economic, and political integration ofLatina/os across the Americas.* Charts new territory by demonstrating the limits of neatlydemarcating the regions of 'Latin America' and the 'UnitedStates'.* Challenges the barriers between Latina/o Studies and LatinAmerican/Caribbean Studies as approached by anthropologists,historians, and other scholars.* Offers instructors, students, and interested readers both thetheoretical tools and case studies necessary to rethinktransnational realities and identities.

List of Contributors.Editors' Acknowledgements.Acknowledgment to Sources.Introduction: Understanding the Américas: Insights fromLatina/o and Latin American Studies (Lynn Stephen, PatriciaZavella, Matthew C. Gutmann, and Félix V. MatosRodríguez).Part I: Colonialism and Resistance.1. Traddutora, Traditora: A Paradigmatic Figure of ChicanaFeminism (Norma Alarcón).2. From the Plantation to the Plantation (excerpt) (AntonioBenítez Rojo.3. New Approaches to the Study of Peasant Rebellion andConsciousness: Implications of the Andean Experience (Steve J.Stern).4. The Real 'New World Order': The Globalization ofRacial and Ethnic Relations in the Late Twentieth Century(Néstor P. Rodríguez).5. The Americans: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples in theUnited States (Rubén G. Rumbaut).Part II: Global Political Economy.6. '¿Quién trabajará?': Domestic Workers, UrbanSlaves, and the Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico (Félix V.Matos Rodríguez).7. A Central American Genocide: Rubber, Slavery, Nationalism,and the Destruction of the Guatusos-Malekus (Marc Edelman).8. Transnational Labor Process and Gender Relations: Women inFruit and Vegetable Production in Chile, Brazil and Mexico (Jane I.Collins).9. Inequality near and far: International Adoption as Seen froma Brazilian Favela (Claudia Fonseca).Part III: Identities, Practices, Hybridities.10. History, Culture, and Place-Making: 'Native' status and MayaIdentity in Belize (Laurie Kroshus Medina).11. The Carnivalization of the World (Richard Parker).12. 'Playing with Fire': The Gendered Construction ofChicana/Mexicana Sexuality (Patricia Zavella).13. Returned Migration, Language, and Identity: Puerto RicanBilinguals in Dos Worlds/Two Mundos (Ana C. Zentella).14. A Place Called Home: A Queer Political Economy of MexicanImmigrant Men's Family Experiences (Lionel Cantú).15. Dominican Blackness and the Modern World (SilvioTorres-Saillant).Part IV: Popular Cultures.16. Jennifer's Butt (Frances Negrón-Muntaner).17. La Quinceañera: Making Gender and Ethnic Identities(Karen Mary Davalos).18. Two Sides of the Same Coin: Modern Gaúchoidentity in Brazil (Ruben George Oliven).19. The United States, Mexico and Machismo (AméricoParedes).20. Spectacular Bodies: Folklorization and the Politics ofIdentity in Ecuadorian Beauty Pageants (Mark Rogers).Part V: Regional, National, and Transnational PoliticalCultures.21. Gender, Politics, and the Triumph of Mestizaje in the Early20th Century Nicaragua (Jeffrey Gould).22. The Construction of Indigenous Suspects: Militarization andthe Gendered and Ethnic dynamics of Human Rights Abuses in SouthernMexico (Lynn Stephen).23. For Whom the Taco Bells Toll: Popular Responses to NAFTASouth of the Border (Matthew C. Gutmann).24. Immigration Reform and Nativism: The Nationalist Response tothe Transnationalist Challenge (Leo R. Chávez).25. The Process of Black Community Organizing in the SouthernPacific Coast Region of Columbia (Libia Grueso, Carlos Rosero, andArturo Escobar).Index.