Mexican State of Mind

MELISSA CASTILLO PLANAS is an assistant professor of English at Lehman College. She is editor of the anthology, ¡Manteca!: An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets and co-editor of La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidades.

"A Mexican State of Mind presents a refreshing look into the creative voices emerging from Mexican New York where these unique experiences are shaping our new imaginaries of young Mexican immigrants."— José Higuera López, Deputy Director, Mexican Studies Institute at The City University of New York"A MexicanState of Mind is the most innovative, and one of the most brilliant books on immigration I have read in the last ten years. Based on field work and personal relationships with young Mexican musicians and visual artists, buttressed by meticulous research on Mexican migration to the US, the author replaces common images of Mexican immigrants as passive, silent, and easily victimized with powerful portraits of Mexican youth in New York City as makers of their own history who transform challenging circumstances and create vibrant spaces through the arts.  Like the greatest works in my own field, African American History, A Mexican State of Mind rescues the agency of a marginalized and stigmatized group by allowing their voices to be heard and the institutions they create, some of them underground, to be seen and understood."— Mark Naison, author of Communists in Harlem During the Depression, White Boy: A Memoir and Before the Fires"This is the book we have been waiting to fully understand the textured lives of the fastest growing group at the heart of New York City's Latinization and exactly what we need to expand notions of art, creativity and creative work.  Castillo-Planas challenges the reduction of migrants to laborers and workers in the national imaginary by exploring their creative lives, dreams and aspirations and their counterculture and artistic endeavors that are not only shaping Mexican art worlds, but also those of New York City and beyond.  The result is a beautiful and inspiring book about the generative power of art in the lives of Mexicans, migrants, Latinxs and all New Yorkers."— Arlene Dávila, author of Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos and the Neoliberal City"Combatting the Erasure of Mexican Immigrants in New York," by Beth Harpazhttps://sum.cuny.edu/combatting-the-erasure-of-mexican-immigrants-in-new-york-city/— SUM"A Mexican State of Mind is a book for enthusiasts of Mexican studies, Latinx studies, as well as migration studies. The book is also of value to cultural historians, scholars of music and the visual arts."— Gotham Center Blog

• ContentsPreface: A Mexican State of Mind: Mexican Migrant Creativity in New York CityNote on the TextIntroduction: Mexican Manzana: The Next Great MigrationPart I   The Container: It's the Intermediary That Fucks You1          "Sólo Queremos el Respeto": Racialization of Labor in the New York Restaurant Industry2          Hermandad, Arte y Rebeldía: Art Collectives and Entrepreneurship in Mexican New YorkPart II  The Atlantic Borderlands: "Un movimiento joven, pero con mucho corazón"3          "Yo Soy Hip Hop": Mexicanidad and Authenticity in Mexican New York4          "Dejamos una huella": Graffiti and Space Claiming in a New BorderlandsEpilogue: Hauntings and Nightmares: The Visible Border and the Invisible Migrant in a Trump EraAcknowledgmentsNotesWorks CitedIndex