Shame and Pride in Narrative: Mexican Women's Language Experiences at the U. S. -Mexico Border

Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. This book analyzes personal experiences of language through the voices of Mexican immigrant women, in relation to the racialization discourses that frame the social life of Mexican immigrant communities in the United States. It reveals the power of narrative, understood as a social practice, to validate and give meaning to people's lives. Shame and Pride in Narrative examines Mexican women's emotionally charged accounts of language-related experiences on and close to the U.S.-Mexican border. Against the backdrop of the dominant language ideology of English monolingualism, the complexity of storytelling practices is explored, along with the emotions, agency, identity construction, social positionings and moral stances revealed in the narratives of Spanish speaking immigrants. The analysis shows how Mexican women in this study engage in an emotional performance of resistance and moralization in narrative. In doing so, they position themselves in relation to exclusionary social practices regulated by nationalism and a monolingual ideology prevalent in parts of the United States. They challenge dominant racializing discourses about Mexican immigration, border enforcement, and the role of the Spanish language in the country. The book reveals the power of narrative, understood as a social practice, to validate and give meaning to people's lives Front Matter....Pages i-xi Mexicalifornia: Mexican Immigrant Women at the Tijuana—San Diego Border....Pages 1-12 Narrating Language Experiences....Pages 13-21 Mexicanas at La Clase Mágica....Pages 22-33 Racialization in Narratives of Language Experiences....Pages 34-74 Shame and Pride: Defendiéndose in Narrative....Pages 75-95 Conclusions: Narrative Revelations....Pages 96-100 Back Matter....Pages 101-119