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Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of âLatinoâ
Top of the pile
89
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
84/100Critics
94/100Scholars
Author:
Héctor Tobar
Publisher:
MCD
Date:
May 9, 2023
Decodes the meaning of "Latino" as a racial and ethnic identity in the modern United States, and seeks to give voice to the angst and anger of young Latino people who have seen latinidad transformed into hateful tropes about "illegals" and have faced insults, harassment, and division based on white insecurities and economic exploitation. Investigating topics that include the US-Mexico border "wall," Frida Kahlo, urban segregation, gangs, queer Latino utopias, and the emergence of the cartel genre in TV and film, Tobar journeys across the country to expose something truer about the meaning of "Latino" in the twenty-first century.
What The Reviewers Say
Well equipped for such a task.
Tobar uses the details of his own life and the broader past of Latinos in America to situate himself within the long sweep of Latino history.
Eye-opening.
Each story unpeels the layers of each individual’s sense of national and cultural identity, the connection to their ancestral pasts, and their visions for future generations growing up in their new country of origin. The passion for social justice is palpable in Tobar’s writing..
