2011/08/01 by Linda C. Noël · 10 citations
Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · #Latin American and Latino Studies #Asian American and Pacific Histories #American History and Culture #African descent #Immigration #Citizenship #Ethnic group #Mexican americans #Political science #Pluralism (philosophy) #Ethnology #Gender studies #Geography #Sociology #Development economics #Law #Politics
paper · doi:10.1525/phr.2011.80.3.430
published in Pacific Historical Review 80(3), 430-467 (University of California Press)
openalex publication_date 2011/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This article focuses on how people of Mexican descent fit within the definition of "American" during the early twentieth century. It argues that during the final years of debate over Arizona and New Mexico statehood, nativos (U.S.-born people of Mexican descent), Mexicans (immigrants from Mexico), and Anglos developed and promoted strategies of pluralism and marginalization for incorporating people of Mexican descent into the nation. Pluralists worked to ensure that nativos in New Mexico would become full members of the United States as Spanish Americans, while Anglos promoting marginalization strove to limit people of Mexican descent in Arizona to second-class citizenship. Although both territories became states in 1912, the two strategies resulted in very different consequences for people of Mexican descent and provided two very different models for how they could be considered American.