Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American Public Discourse [Hardcover]

Otto Santa Ana (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0292777663 | ISBN-13: 978-0292777668 | Publication Date: June 2002 | Edition: 1st

"...awash under a brown tide ...the relentless flow of immigrants ...like waves on a beach, these human flows are remaking the face of America ..." Since 1993, metaphorical language such as this has permeated mainstream media reporting on the United States' growing Latino population. In this groundbreaking book, Otto Santa Ana argues that far from being mere figures of speech, such metaphors produce and sustain negative public perceptions of the Latino community and its place in American society, precluding the view that Latinos are vested with the same rights and privileges as other citizens. Applying the insights of cognitive metaphor theory to an extensive natural language data set drawn from hundreds of articles in the Los Angeles Times and other media, Santa Ana reveals how metaphorical language portrays Latinos as invaders, outsiders, burdens, parasites, diseases, animals, and weeds. He convincingly demonstrates that three anti-Latino referenda passed in California because of such imagery, particularly the infamous anti-immigrant measure, Proposition 187. Santa Ana illustrates how Proposition 209 organisers broadcast compelling new metaphors about racism to persuade an electorate that had previously supported affirmative action to ban it. He also shows how Proposition 227 supporters used antiquated metaphors for learning, school, and language to blame Latino children's speech - rather than gross structural inequity - for their schools' failure to educate them. Santa Ana concludes by calling for the creation of insurgent metaphors to contest oppressive U.S. public discourse about minority communities.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a highly significant contribution to scholarship in several fields - sociology, sociolinguistics, cultural studies, political studies, ethnic studies... The combination of lucid and rational theory, rich data set, and carefully reasoned analysis results in an unusually powerful book." Ronald Schmidt Sr., author of Language Policy and Identity Politics in the United States

Review

This is a highly significant contribution to scholarship in several fields--e. g. sociology, sociolinguistics, cultural studies, political studies, ethnic studies. . . . The combination of lucid and rational theory, rich data set, and carefully reasoned analysis results in an unusually powerful book. (Ronald Schmidt Sr., author of Language Policy and Identity Politics in the United States ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; 1st edition (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292777663
• ISBN-13: 978-0292777668
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,213,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Otto Santa Ana (1954- ) was born in Miami Arizona into families with 400 years of roots in the Southwest. He studied with Keith Basso and William Labov and now has taught at UCLA for 15 years. His first book, "Brown Tide Rising," won the 2002 American Political Science Association's Best Book on Ethnic and Racial Politics. His current research centers on how mass media inscribes social inequity on news and comedy programming.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthy dissection of public discourse  while tedious, May 15, 2003

By 

Peter A. Kindle (Kansas City, Missouri) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American Public Discourse (Paperback)

Brown Tide Rising is not one of those social science books with a beat. No one will soon convert it to a hit song or into a blockbuster movie. Reading it is tedious without being overly complicated, but didn't all our mothers make us eat our broccoli? Some books need to be read even when we don't want to read them.

Santa Ana walks the reader through his analysis of metaphors utilized in the Los Angeles Times when reporting on three California propositions presented to the electorate in the 1990's. All had direct and potentially adverse repercussions for Latinos. This book carefully deconstructs the ways in which the parameters of the debates were constructed by looking at the language, and metaphors, used in newspaper accounts.

The power in Santa Ana's work lies in his explanation of the idea of public discourse. Public discourse is the imaginal limitation of perspectives. This narrowing of perspectives is accomplished by almost subliminal use of metaphor so that the legitimate contours of an issue are restricted by assumption and adoption of a specific cognitive framework. Because this framework is undeclared and public, it serves to significantly restrict public debate and provides an assumptive, public heuristic that easily substantiates bias, injustice, and discrimination.

Few in America continue to defend ethnic and racial pejoratives. Their demeaning use is without social acceptance or approval. Santa Ana clearly shows that the metaphors utilized in public discourse are substantially more pejorative than the most blatant verbal slur.

I hope that many will read this work. Awareness of the power inherent in the formation of public discourse, a power that is quite subtle and pervasive, can only be controlled by an intelligent and insightful public.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book of 2002 by APSA, April 7, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American Public Discourse (Paperback)

This book received a award of Best Book of 2002 on Ethnic and Racial Political Ideology and/or Political Theory, Organized Section on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics of the American Political Science Association. Book design: Heidi Haeuser.