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“JUAN CROW” IN THE NUEVO SOUTH?1

Racialization of Guatemalan and Dominican Immigrants in the Atlanta Metro Area2

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2012

Irene Browne  and
Mary Odem
Irene Browne*
Affiliation:
Departments of Sociology and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Emory University
Mary Odem
Affiliation:
Departments of History and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Emory University
*
*Professor Irene Browne, Dept. of Sociology, 1555 Dickey Drive, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322. E-mail: socib@emory.edu
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Abstract

In this paper, we apply Omi and Winant's theory of racial formation to understand how a new racial category of “Latino” is being created within Atlanta, a city firmly entrenched in a Black/White binary of race. Comparing Dominicans and Guatemalans in the Atlanta metro area, we show how two processes are “racializing” Latinos: 1) the homogenization of Latinos into a single “race” through state laws and policies and 2) the diversified understandings of and responses to race and racial categorization among Latinos based on their national origin and ethnicity and the specific Atlanta context. We argue that in moving beyond the Black/White binary, state laws that racialize Latinos create a two-dimensional category, with a homogenized “Latino” category as one axis and an illegal/legal distinction as the second axis. The meanings attached to “race” and the consequences that Latinos experience from racialization depend upon their perceived or actual legal status.

Keywords

ImmigrationRacializationLatinosAtlantaU.S. SoutheastRacial Formation.
Type
Special Feature
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , Fall 2012 , pp. 321 - 337
Copyright
Copyright © W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research 2012

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Footnotes

1

The term ‘Juan Crow’ comes from Roberto Lovato (2008).

2

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the conference, “Race and Immigration in the American City: New Perspectives on 21st Century Intergroup Relations,” University of Chicago, May 20, 2011.

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