In recent years, with the transformation of political economies and the influence of new theoretical frameworks, especially in cultural studies, older approaches to area studies have become increasingly inadequate. This landmark volume charts new territory by demonstrating the limits of neatly demarcating the regions of 'Latin America' and the 'United States'. Perspectives on Las Américas: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation presents key readings that collectively examine the historical, cultural, economic, and political integration of Latina/os across the Americas.

List of Contributors. Editors' Acknowledgements. Acknowledgment to Sources. Introduction: Understanding the Americas: Insights from Latina/o and Latin American Studies (Lynn Stephen, Patricia Zavella, Matthew C. Gutmann, and Felix V. Matos Rodriguez) Part I: Colonialism and Resistance. 1. Traddutora, Traditora: A Paradigmatic Figure of Chicana Feminism (Norma Alarcon) 2. From the Plantation to the Plantation (excerpt) (Antonio Benitez Rojo. 3. New Approaches to the Study of Peasant Rebellion and Consciousness: Implications of the Andean Experience (Steve J. Stern) 4. The Real 'New World Order': The Globalization of Racial and Ethnic Relations in the Late Twentieth Century (Nestor P. Rodriguez) 5. The Americans: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples in the United States (Ruben G. Rumbaut) Part II: Global Political Economy. 6. '?Quien trabajara?': Domestic Workers, Urban Slaves, and the Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico (Felix V. Matos Rodriguez) 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 in Fruit and Vegetable Production in Chile, Brazil and Mexico (Jane I. Collins) 9. Inequality near and far: International Adoption as Seen from a Brazilian Favela (Claudia Fonseca) Part III: Identities, Practices, Hybridities. 10. History, Culture, and Place-Making: 'Native' status and Maya Identity in Belize (Laurie Kroshus Medina) 11. The Carnivalization of the World (Richard Parker) 12. 'Playing with Fire': The Gendered Construction of Chicana/Mexicana Sexuality (Patricia Zavella) 13. Returned Migration, Language, and Identity: Puerto Rican Bilinguals in Dos Worlds/Two Mundos (Ana C. Zentella) 14. A Place Called Home: A Queer Political Economy of Mexican Immigrant Men's Family Experiences (Lionel Cantu) 15. Dominican Blackness and the Modern World (Silvio Torres-Saillant) Part IV: Popular Cultures. 16. Jennifer's Butt (Frances Negron-Muntaner) 17. La Quinceanera: Making Gender and Ethnic Identities (Karen Mary Davalos) 18. Two Sides of the Same Coin: Modern Gaucho identity in Brazil (Ruben George Oliven) 19. The United States, Mexico and Machismo (Americo Paredes) 20. Spectacular Bodies: Folklorization and the Politics of Identity in Ecuadorian Beauty Pageants (Mark Rogers) Part V: Regional, National, and Transnational Political Cultures. 21. Gender, Politics, and the Triumph of Mestizaje in the Early 20th Century Nicaragua (Jeffrey Gould) 22. The Construction of Indigenous Suspects: Militarization and the Gendered and Ethnic dynamics of Human Rights Abuses in Southern Mexico (Lynn Stephen) 23. For Whom the Taco Bells Toll: Popular Responses to NAFTA South of the Border (Matthew C. Gutmann) 24. Immigration Reform and Nativism: The Nationalist Response to the Transnationalist Challenge (Leo R. Chavez) 25. The Process of Black Community Organizing in the Southern Pacific Coast Region of Columbia (Libia Grueso, Carlos Rosero, and Arturo Escobar) Index.