Language, race, and illegality

Indigenous Migrants Navigating the Immigration Regime in a New Destination

Bibliographic Data

ID3656065
AuthorsAndrea Gómez Cervantes (0000-0002-5416-3935, Wake Forest University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume49
Issue7
Pages1610-1629
Publication date2023-04-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369183x.2021.1968294
OpenAlexW3194544098
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited46

Immigration scholarship has stressed the importance of language acquisition for immigrant integration. Simultaneously, sociolinguist scholars have shown the connection between language and power within societies. This paper investigates the intersections of race and language in the lives of Indigenous Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants in a new immigrant destination. I argue that Indigenous immigrants utilise language strategically to access information, migrate, get settled, and navigate the immigration regime. However, given the ongoing structures of settler colonialism, anti-Indigenous discrimination persists, leaving Indigenous migrants in vulnerable situations. I rely on Critical Latinx Indigeneities scholarship to better understand Indigenous migrants’ experiences in a geographical location where Latin Americans (Indigenous and mestizos) make up a smaller share of the population. I employ data of interviews with 34 Indigenous immigrants of Mixteco, Tlapaneco, and Chuj and K’iche’ Mayan origins and three years of ethnographic participant observation between 2016 and 2020 in Kansas. I argue that Spanish is a source of capital used to negotiate social institutions, gain access to economic opportunities, and navigate the immigration regime. However, Spanish remains a source of power and exploitation, creating divides among Indigenous and non-Indigenous migrants in the diaspora

Colonialism · Diaspora · Ethnography · Immigration · Indigenous · Indigenous language · Latin Americans · Political science · Population · Scholarship · Sociology · Anthropology · Demography · Gender Studies · Indigenous Cultures and Socio-Education · Law · Migration, Education, Indigenous Social Dynamics · Multilingual Education and Policy

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