What does it mean to be Mexican American in Houston, TX?

For the Mendoza-Martinez family, the answer to this question is complicated and evolving. In this fascinating memoir, author Dr Louis Mendoza tells his family’s story over three generations, exploring the ongoing efforts to negotiate intense racialization in Texas. Examining questions of community, belonging and home, migrancy, and social strata, the book considers the interconnectedness of ethnic identity and place through the lens of lived experience.

Explicitly addressing the challenges of constructing—or reconstructing—a multi-generational family narrative when the traditional resources of family archives are limited, this memoir will enhance and illuminate courses in Latinx or Latin American studies, migrant studies, American studies, sociology, oral history, and cultural anthropology.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• viviiAcknowledgments
• Dedication
• xxiContents
• xiixiiiLearning objectives
• xviiPrologue
• Introduction
  • Goals and structure of the book
• 1 Fragments of the past: on family genealogy as a mosaic
  • José Mendoza, circa 1903
  • Irineo and Adelaida Olvera: Los Padres de Maria Olvera, circa 1915
  • Zapopan and Felix Martínez, circa 1923, Agujita, Coahuila
  • A time of transition
  • Early twentieth century Texas
  • The Mexican community emerges in Houston
  • New destinations
  • From the fields to the big city
    • Amor Filial
  • Zapopan (1998)
  • A friendship is forged (circa 1942)
• 2 Becoming Americans: surviving, negotiating, and thriving under acculturation
  • María Concepción Martinezi
  • José Mendoza, Jr
  • Magnolia Park coming of age
  • Mid-century Houston
  • Civil rights, social change, and neighborhood transformation
• 3 Coming of age in the Space City: cowboys, astronauts and other specters
  • Growing up Mendoza: hand-me-downs and a close-knit family
  • Denver Harbor: The interplay of spaces, institutions, and identity
  • Urban renewal, neighborhood warfare, and developing resilience
  • Interpellation, internalization, and negotiation
  • Work and flying the nest
  • Police confrontations: compliance and resistance
    • La Chota
  • Between two worlds: searching for a meaningful life
• Coda
• 186187Notes
• 192193Recommended projects, assignments, and discussion questions
• 195Bibliography
• Index

Louis Mendoza PhD is a professor in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies, and professor of literature and cultural studies at Arizona State University. Originally from Houston, TX, Mendoza is the author of several books on immigration and the Latinoization of the US. He also directed a short film based on his research, entitled A Journey Across Our America: Observations and Reflections on the Latinoization of the US.