Book review of Kathleen M. Coll, Remaking Citizenship: Latina Immigrants and New American Politics. Stanford University Press, 2010. $22.95, paperback

Negroni, Lirio K.

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The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 38 Issue 3 September Article 12 2011 Review of Remaking Citizenship: Latina Immigrants and New American Politics. Kathleen M. Coll. Reviewed by Lirio K. Negroni. Lirio K. Negroni University of Connecticut Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw  Part of the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Negroni, Lirio K. (2011) "Review of Remaking Citizenship: Latina Immigrants and New American Politics. Kathleen M. Coll. Reviewed by Lirio K. Negroni.," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 38 : Iss. 3 , Article 12. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol38/iss3/12 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Social Work at ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact maira.bundza@wmich.edu. created tensions and contributed to the turnover of organiz-ers hired by the groups. In addition, mounting a cross-school,district-level campaign that focused attention on building re-lationships with the "top"-the UFT and the DOE-while alsoneeding to renew and expand the parent base at the "bottom"strained the organizers' capacity. Fabricant recounts the per-sonal transformation of many parent leaders and the deeployalty and trust that formed among parents and with orga-nizers, but he also tells that despite the constant work the or-ganizers committed to developing parent leaders, sometimesexperienced staff needed to intervene when parents did notseem able to fully represent the campaign.It is impossible to read this book without having tre-mendous admiration for all those who participated in theCampaign-their intelligence, their caring, their perseverance,their commitment to public education. In an era where publicinstitutions are under attack, CC9 had a vision for public spaceswhere ordinary citizens could exercise their essential demo-cratic rights and responsibilities. In carving out that space,South Bronx parents were able to make schools a little moreaccountable to their dreams for their children.Eva Gold, Research for Action, Philadelphia, PAKathleen M. Coll, Remaking Citizenship: Latina Immigrants andNew American Politics. Stanford University Press, 2010.$22.95, paperback.This book, based on a qualitative study conducted withthirty Latina immigrants and active members of MujeresUnidas y Activas (MUA), a community organization foundedin California in the early 1990s, contributes to the knowledgebase on Latinas in the United States. The study participantswere between their 20s and 40s, non-English speaking and ofdiverse migratory statuses. Many of them were single mothersreceiving some type of public assistance, and most had migrat-ed to the U.S. in the early 1990s.MUA's creation was a response to the specific socialand political conditions of California in the 80s and 90s. Theauthor was the coordinator of the Committee for HealthRights in Central America, and she joined MUA as a researchBook Reviewvs 181Journal of Sociology & Social Welfarecollaborator. By the time she began her study, MUA had fivestaff and over 200 members. MUA women were involved inpolitical actions such as marches, civic debate and action, edu-cation and training, development of micro-entrepreneurships,job development efforts, lobbying, coalition building, advoca-cy efforts, and leadership development.Coll, an anthropologist and lecturer in Feminist Studies atStanford University, describes and analyzes MUA women'sprocesses of personal and political transformation and the waysin which they claimed their rights and met their daily life re-sponsibilities, processes that culminated in their developmentof citizenship. For the author, citizenship is much more than afixed ascribed legal status. It is a right and a process that mustbe viewed from the perspective of individuals' cultural foun-dations and practices. These women became citizens throughtheir individual and collective actions and reflections and asthey developed a sense of belonging and entitlement and apositive vision of themselves and their children as membersof U.S. society.The book consists of an introduction, seven chapters andan appendix. In the introduction the author discusses her theo-retical standpoints, the concept of citizenship, the political andsocial history of San Francisco, her own trajectory and connec-tions to this city, and MUA and the socioeconomic and politi-cal contexts that led to the creation of pro-immigrant advocacymovements like MUA. Each chapter addresses a different com-ponent that comprises the process of developing citizenship.The book provides examples of MUA's strategies topromote political education and collective action such as pro-viding buena informacion (good information) and facilitatingcivic activism. Grassroots immigrant organizing is an under-lying component of these women's citizenship developmentprocess. Change for these women came as a result of theirpublic participation, the support from other Latinas and thechanges in their family relationships. Their thoughts abouttheir rights and social position in the U.S. also changed. Theyfaced laws and policies that forced them to be silent sociallyand politically. But, through their community participation,they challenged those obstacles and developed valuable socialpractices and a political identity. Motherhood and citizenship182are mutually constituted as Latinas navigate and seek the helpof public institutions. While learning the ropes, these womennot only developed as mothers but also as political subjectsengaged in participatory citizenship.Another relevant component of Latinas' citizenship de-velopment relates to their autoestima (self-esteem), a resourcethat helped women stand up for themselves and a collectiveprocess through which they fully articulated their claims forrespect, a voice in their community, and their full rights. Itwas through the MUA's autoestima meetings that they devel-oped political skills and addressed their pressing personal andemotional issues. Latinas regained their voices, changed anddeveloped citizenship as they were able to desahogarse (speakup) and aprender a hablar (learned to talk) about their realitiesand challenges. Their narratives provided new and differentvisions of domestic violence, child rearing, self-esteem and im-migrant and worker's rights.Citizenship emerged as they convivieron (passed time) withother women. Convivencia (passing time) through workshopsand community efforts led them to reformulate citizenshiptransnationally. In learning about immigration, history, legis-lation, and the similarities that united them with other non-Latina women, their claim for belonging and membership inthe U.S. strengthened.This book shows an inspiring view of Latinas and thepower of community organizing and political action. It is agood educational tool for courses that focus on Latinas, com-munity organizing, leadership development, immigration/migration issues, and human rights. Latina readers may findthe book empowering. One possible limitation of the book isthe lack of a section specifically devoted to discuss the meth-odology. Also, other considerations may be necessary when re-flecting and analyzing what citizenship means to Puerto Ricanwomen. Because Puerto Ricans are born U.S. citizens, theirprocess of developing a sense of belonging to the U.S. may beinfluenced by colonialism.Coll's narratives occur at a time when anti-immigrant sen-timent is high, and amidst debate about who belongs in theU.S. In a nation that remains undecided and divided regard-ing the rights to be granted to our undocumented immigrantBook Reviews 183Journal of Sociology & Social Welfarepopulation, Coll's work reminds us that among those un-documented immigrants are leaders and contributors to anew American reality who have gained a right to be calledcitizens.Lirio K. Negroni, School of Social Work,University of ConnecticutDaniel Rasmussen, American Uprising: The Untold Story ofAmerica's Largest Slave Revolt. Harper Collins, 2011. $26.99,hardcover.American Uprising tells the story of the massive 1811 NewOrleans slave rebellion, and is one of several highly readable,well-researched new books that chronicle events and lives inAfrican-American history-American history, really-from theperspective of participants themselves. Emphasizing agency,books like Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns: TheEpic Story of America's Great Migration (2010) (reviewed sepa-rately in this issue) and Dan Biddle and Murry Rubin's TastingFreedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil WarAmerica (2010) provide inspiration and substance from thelives of Africans and African descendents who courageouslychallenged the limits imposed upon them by white America.Like the others, American Uprising is written in narrative formand is directed to the popular market, and it is enjoying sub-stantial sales-an indicator that black and white audiences areeager to learn about flesh and blood people who made choices,took risks, accepted rewards with joy, and consequences withdignity.Adapted from Rasmussen's Harvard senior thesis, the bookcharts New Orleans' commercial growth as center for slaveryand details the violence of the sugar plantation owners deter-mined to control their chattel. This back-breaking work result-ed in high mortality among the enslaved, and new workerswere purchased rather than born because parents didn't livelong enough to reproduce and raise children. In this violentcontext, Rasmussen traces the development of a conspirato-rial ideology among the enslaved that drew on the American,French and Haitian revolutions, and the gathering of a small184

Review of \u3cem\u3eRemaking Citizenship: Latina Immigrants and New American Politics.\u3c/em\u3e Kathleen M. Coll. Reviewed by Lirio K. Negroni.

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Review of \u3cem\u3eRemaking Citizenship: Latina Immigrants and New American Politics.\u3c/em\u3e Kathleen M. Coll. Reviewed by Lirio K. Negroni.

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