Working the Boundaries: Race, Space, and Illegality in Mexican Chicago (review)

I am an admirer of Nicholas De Genova's work, particularly this book, Working the Boundaries: Race, Space, and "Illegality" in Mexican Chicago. Professor Genova is a rare scholar that provides groundbreaking theory and research, making it accessible, interesting, and enjoyable for the reader. In short, this new book provides challenging and thoughtful analyses for studying immigration. I can envision this book being used for a variety of courses, such as in Anthropology, immigration, Chicana/o Studies, Ethnic Studies, and even public policy, to name but a few.

The author focuses on Chicago and the Mexican immigrant population. His two and a half year ethnographic research was conducted while he was an English instructor at several factories in the Chicago metropolitan region. It is important to note that very little research has been conducted on Mexican immigration in Chicago. Research on the Midwest is an important contribution to immigration studies, illustrating the growth and importance of ethnic enclaves as well as their impact on communities.

Dr. Genova uses a variety of lenses and/or theoretical frameworks for understanding behavior, identity, and space. His review of the literature is comprehensive and well focused. What I found even more intriguing, however, are the critiques and problems using these types of analyses. I learned very much while reading this book. Thinking about the limitations of ethnography and the role of the researcher, particularly when studying Mexican migration, challenges the role of the scholar. I certainly will consider some of these issues while conducting my own research. Some of the lenses he examined and critiqued were race, labor, class, nativism, citizenship, and immigration law, to name but a few. Professor Genova also provides a multitude of examples of the contrasting tensions and oppositions imposed on Mexican immigrants, both formally and informally, using quotes and observations.

The book offers several types of analyses for the reader. Professor Genova provides a comprehensive review of the literature while contextualizing how these issues play out in the daily lives of immigrants. Next, he provides ample evidence of how passage of state and Federal immigration policies mirror the misguided beliefs about immigrants. Most importantly the book illustrates how popular sentiment, such as misperceptions and stereotypes regarding immigrants such as racist and xenophobic beliefs result in the creation of misguided immigration policies that are formally enforced as well as internalized by immigrants. Professor Genova illustrates that these misguided beliefs are rarely challenged and often result in established beliefs about immigrants that linger today.

My only critique of the book is that it does not provide a clear or overarching theoretical perspective at the conclusion from which he bases his argument. This is not a problem of the book but rather my own curiosity because I like it so much. His work is so rich that a variety of approaches can be applied as well as tested, and would have benefited from final theoretical insights.