Documenting the Undocumented: Latino/A Narratives and Social Justice in the Era of Operation Gatekeeper

Looking at the work of Junot Díaz, Cristina García, Julia Alvarez, and other Latino/a authors who are U.S. citizens, Marta Caminero-Santangelo examines how writers are increasingly expressing their solidarity with undocumented immigrants. Through storytelling, these writers create community and a sense of peoplehood that includes non-citizen Latino/as. This volume also foregrounds the narratives of unauthorized migrants themselves, showing how their stories are emerging into the public sphere. Immigration and citizenship are multifaceted issues, and the voices are myriad. They challenge common interpretations of "illegal" immigration, explore inevitable traumas and ethical dilemmas, protest their own silencing in immigration debates, and even capitalize on the topic for the commercial market. Yet these texts all seek to affect political discourse by advancing the possibility of empathy across lines of ethnicity and citizenship status. As border enforcement strategies escalate along with political rhetoric, detentions, and deaths, these counternarratives are more significant than ever before, and their perspectives cannot be ignored. What we are witnessing, argues Caminero-Santangelo, is a mass mobilization of stories. This growing body of literature is critical to understanding not only the Latino/a immigrant experience but also alternative visions of nation and belonging.

About the Author :
Marta Caminero-Santangelo, professor of English at the University of Kansas, is the author of On Latinidad: U.S. Latino Literature and the Construction of Ethnicity and The Madwoman Can't Speak: Or Why Insanity Is Not Subversive.

Review :
"This unique study is vital for its analysis of contemporary fiction on immigration and its inclusion of testimonios by those who have experienced the difficulties of living undocumented in the U.S."--Choice "Caminero-Santangelo skillfully weaves literary analysis with political history, narrative theory, postcolonial studies, trauma studies, and media analysis. . . . [and] reinvigorates literary criticism on testimonio, narrative, and ethics that began with the Menchú controversy, taking the discussions in multiple, generative trajectories."--Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States "An excellent, broad, and exceptionally thorough study of how narratives about undocumented immigrants can create readerly attention and responsibility."--Small Axe Project