Being Mexican American: The Compatibility of Mexican Americans’ National and Ethnic Identities

• In Event: 421 - Regular Session. Ethnic, Racial, and Other Social Group Formations among Latinos/as in the United States

Abstract

This chapter is taken from our book in-progress which focuses on the identities and ethnic experiences of later generation Mexican Americans. We draw on interviews with 76 Mexican Americans living in San Antonio and Los Angeles to illustrate the diversity and complexity of ethnic-related experiences among this population. In the book we move away from the overly determined and largely uniform path to becoming part of the mainstream that dominates the literature on assimilation. We find that this approach leaves behind much of the richness of individual experience and cannot capture the myriad ways in which people negotiate their ethnicity (or lack thereof) on a daily basis and how they ascribe meaning to their ethnicity. In the chapter presented here we explore respondents’ national or “American” identities vis-à-vis their ethnic identities, especially in light of current debates about whether ethnicity competes with nationalism and patriotism. We find that ethnic and national identities are not mutually exclusive. Rather, the relation between the two is often complementary, although complex. We illustrate this and explain the reasons for why this compatibility exists. We also discuss the handful of instances in which our respondents found it difficult to be Mexican and American, but show how this dynamic was largely due to forces beyond their control.

Authors

• Edward E. Telles, Princeton University

• Christina Alicia Sue, University of Colorado-Boulder