Latinas/OS in New Jersey: Histories, Communities, and Cultures

Since the 1890s, New Jersey has attracted hundreds of thousands of Caribbean and Latin American migrants. The state's rich economic history, high-income suburbs, and strong public sector have all contributed to attracting, retaining, and setting the stage for Latin American and Caribbean immigrants and secondary-step migrants from New York City. Since the 1980s, however, Latinos have developed a more complex presence in the state's political landscape and institutions. The emergence of Latino-majority towns and cities and coalition politics facilitated the election of Latino mayors, council persons, and many social and community leaders, as well as the election of statewide officers. This collection brings together innovative and empirically grounded scholarship from different disciplines and interdisciplinary fields of study and addresses topics including the demographic history of Latinos in the state, Latino migration from gateway cities to suburban towns, Latino urban enclaves, Latino economic and social mobility, Latino students and education, the New Jersey Dream Act and in-state tuition act organizing, Latinos and criminal justice reform, Latino electoral politics and leadership, and undocumented communities.

Contributors: Yamil Avivi; Jennifer Ayala; Ulla D. Berg; Giovani Burgos; Elsa Candelario; Laura Curran; Lilia Fern?ndez; Ismael Garc?a Col?n; Olga Jim?nez de Wagenheim; Benjamin Lapidus; Aldo A. Lauria Santiago; Johana Londo?o; Kathleen Lopez; Giancarlo Muschi; Melanie Z. Plasencia; Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas; Elena Sabogal; Raymond Sanchez Mayers; William Su?rez G?mez; Alex F. Trillo; Daniela Valdez; Anil Venkatesh; Lyna L. Wiggins

Author: Aldo A. Lauria Santiago
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Published: 01/14/2025
Pages: 404
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.28lbs
Size: 9.18h x 6.27w x 0.95d
ISBN: 9781978826175

About the Author

ALDO A. LAURIA SANTIAGO is a professor in the Departments of Latino and Caribbean Studies and History at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. He is the co-author of Rethinking the Struggle for Puerto Rican Rights. At Rutgers he directs the Center for Latin American Studies and co-coordinates the Latino Studies Research Initiative.

ULLA D. BERG is an associate professor in the Departments of Latino and Caribbean Studies and Anthropology at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the author of Mobile Selves: Race, Migration and Belonging Between Peru and the US.

OLGA JIMENEZ de WAGENHEIM is a professor emerita in history at Rutgers University, Newark, where she taught and mentored for more than twenty years. She is the author of The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History and Puerto Rico's Revolt for Independence.