The Chicano Studies Reader by Noriega Chon A.; Avila Eric; Davalos Karen Mary

Author:Noriega, Chon A.; Avila, Eric; Davalos, Karen Mary
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press
Published: 2021-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Linguistic Cartography

Political maps, however, do not coincide nor are they synonymous with linguistic maps. They too do not account for the entire story. In fact, Mexico’s weak nineteenth-century military, economic, and political power and its twentieth-century economic dependence have, perhaps ironically, furthered the expansion of its geolinguistic power, for today, given the large-scale immigration north, it could be said that Mexico is demographically and linguistically reterritorializing the Southwest. The Latino population is fast becoming the largest minority population of the United States, as well as being the population with the lowest income and the highest rate of poverty (Bureau of the Census 1991c, 7–8). Latinos are expected to surpass the African American minority in size early in the twenty-first century (see table 15) and to become the majority population in the state of California by the year 2040 if not earlier (Miller and Ostrow 1993, A22). Today, the Latino population resides not only in the Southwest but throughout the United States; yet its marked concentration (about 63 percent) in the southwestern part of the United States has led—particularly for Latinos of Mexican origin who recall their historical roots in the region—to the discursive construction of the “border” states as “homeland” (see table 14).

The more recent reconfiguration of the linguistic and demographic map of the United States has to be seen, then, as part of a broader historical phenomenon: a product not only of nineteenth-century imperialism and the mass migration of Mexicans, but also of postwar (1945–1970) globalization of labor (Amin 1992, 9) and post-1950 critical social, economic, and political conflicts that triggered the migration of Asian, Caribbean, and Latin American immigrants. The restructuring brought on by the globalization of capital, which has led to the exportation of labor-intensive work and technology from industrialized nations to developing nations, has not, however, improved economic conditions in developing areas. Thus, despite the relocation of industries to the Third World, reports indicate that as a result of labor-saving technological advancements that increase productivity with a smaller work force, Latin American and African unemployment rates have also risen and led, in turn, to increased international migration to industrialized centers [Havemann and Kempster 1993, 1,4).

The phenomenon of domestic and international migration is worldwide. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that there are now 100 million foreign immigrants throughout the world and millions moving within particular nations from rural to urban areas. This geographical and occupational migration relocates migrants in Western Europe, the United States, Japan, and the large urban centers of the Third World. Major cities of both industrial and developing nations, such as São Paulo, Calcutta, Bombay, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Mexico City, thus continue to expand at what can only be termed mind-boggling rates. The case of Mexico is a clear example. The United Nations Fund for Population Activities reports that Mexico now exports about 10 percent of its labor force to the United States. Domestic migration within Mexico has also led to a concentration of its population in urban areas. Mexico City is now listed by the U.

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