Language, Immigration and Labor : Negotiating Work in the U. S. -Mexico Borderlands.

Cover -- Half-Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- 1 The Social Context of Language Contact in the Informal Economy -- Language and Globalization -- Language and Borders -- The Day Labor Center -- Addressing a Local Issue -- Getting Started -- Daily Operations -- Negotiating Space -- Research Perspective -- People at the Day Labor Center -- Terminology -- Workers -- Old Timers -- Employers -- Volunteers -- Language Brokers -- Overview of Contents -- 2 The Regulation of Immigration and Language -- Immigration Law and the Social Construction of "Illegality" -- Arizona Immigration Law -- Everyday Discourses of Citizenship and "Illegality" -- Performing Cultural Citizenship -- Language Ideologies and National Identity -- Proposition 300 "Public Program Eligibility" -- Proposition 103 "English as the Official Language" -- Bilingual Education and Unauthorized Accents -- Everyday Practices of Linguistic Exclusion -- Globalization, Immigrant Labor, and Language -- 3 "If I knew the language, don't think that I would be here": Shifting Understandings of the Linguistic Capital of English -- Linguistic Capital -- Language Barriers -- Employment Abuses -- Consumer Barriers -- Changes in the Linguistic "Field" -- Becoming Language Learners -- ESL Classes and English on the Job -- English at the Day Labor Center -- The Realities of Speaking English -- 4 Solidarity, Rapport, and Co-membership: Employers' Hiring Practices -- Gatekeeping Encounters -- Negotiating Work at the Day Labor Center -- Rapport, Co-membership, and Solidarity in Job Interviews -- Rapport, Solidarity, and Linguistic Accommodation -- Perceptions of Convergent and Divergent Linguistic Accommodation -- Co-membership without Solidarity -- Negotiating from a Powerful Perch -- Conclusions -- 5 Performing the Good Worker -- Performative Acts.

Preemptive Performances and Social Positioning -- Performing the Good Worker -- Hardworking Docility -- Physical and Technical Masculinity -- Performing Bilingualism -- Inauthentic Performances -- Documentation, Language, and Race -- Conclusions -- 6 Conceptualizing Intercultural Communication -- Identity Formation -- Intercultural Communication -- Rethinking Intercultural Communication -- Identities in Contact -- Notes -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- References -- Index.

This book explores dominant ideologies about citizenship, nation, and language that frame the everyday lives of Spanish-speaking immigrant day laborers in Arizona. It examines the value of speaking English in this context and the dynamics of intercultural communication in fast-paced job negotiations.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.