403 - Regional Spotlight Session. Latinos in the Midwest: Incorporation, Mobilizations, and Persisting Challenges

Session Submission Type: Paper Session

Abstract

Given historical patterns of settlement, the social science literature on Latino/a migration and incorporation has tended to focus on large urban centers. In the context of the Midwest, specifically, much scholarship on Latino/a experiences has focused on the city of Chicago. Yet, we know that Latinos have long been present in many other communities across the region. Furthermore, the Midwest is a broadly constituted and contested space, a site of ongoing and new migrations from established areas of Latino settlement in other parts of the country, and from Latin America and the Caribbean. Chicago, and a host of other Midwestern cities of various sizes, continue to be configured and reconfigured by the Latino/a presence. Additionally, for the past three decades, growing numbers of Latinos have settled in a variety of suburban and rural communities across the region.

This paper session features work on the dynamic landscapes constituted by Latinas/Latinos in the Midwest. We offer work of sociological significance presented within a historical and comparative framework, as a way to deepen our understanding of Latino/a experiences in the Midwest. The Midwest and Chicago are the perfect setting for this conversation, which will highlight:
• new and persisting challenges, like gentrification, and the challenges (though also opportunities) associated with a growingly heterogeneous Latin@ population)
• remarkable Latin@ growth in a range of small and mid-size cities across the region (e.g., Omaha, Minneapolis, Des Moines)
• the browning of the suburbs, and specifically the emergence of Latin@ suburbs
• growth of Latin@ populations as a driver for rural population growth throughout the Midwest, and the emergence of and conditions of Latino communities in a range of rural new gateways

Sub Unit

• Regional Spotlight

Session Organizers

• Maura I. Toro-Morn, Illinois State University

• Marta Maria Maldonado, Oregon State University

Individual Presentations

• Latino Immigration in a Re-emerging Gateway: Incorporation and Challenges in the High Plains - Matthew R. Sanderson, Kansas State University

• Building Trust: The Creation of a Latino Business Network in a Small Midwestern Community - Bridget K. Diamond-Welch, University of South Dakota

• Aquí Estamos y No Nos Vamos:’ Latin@ Placemaking in Rural Iowa - Marta Maria Maldonado, Oregon State University

• New Destinations within an Old Gateway - Jorge Ortiz, University of Illinois-Chicago