MEXICAN AMERICAN IDENTITY, edited by Martha E. Bemal and Phylis Cancilla Martinelli, is the most outstanding collection of original research and analytical discussion so far published that focuses on Mexican American ethnic identity, an important dimension of ethnicity. This title is critical for educators and policy makers who set policy or make decisions affecting the Latino/Hispanic community for it provides an empirical and cognitive basis for understanding the idiosyncratic characteristics of this group as a unique culture and vis-à-vis the larger social context. Qui ego sum? 'Who am I? and Qui tu es? Who are you? are basic human inquiries. This book discusses and sheds light on the underlying dynamics determining and shaping identity and self-image of the Mexican American as an individual and a social group. This anthology is comprised of ten essays, whose topics range from historical analysis of Mexican American identity; society's views of Mexican Americans and how these images and perceptions influence ethnic identity; the identity of Mexican American women, young children, adolescents. It also includes discussions of the political and policy impacts of Mexican American identity in cross-cultural and Anglo American, and dominant group settings. This collection of essays places Mexican American ethnic identity in a broad context beyond the borders of the United States an into an earlier time frame. Ethnic identity is explored as both a resource for the individual and the group. Other aspects discussed are ethnicity and ethnic identity in Mexico and Mexican America; Mexican immigrant nationalism as an origin of identity for Mexican Americans; in-group perspectives to the broader implications of ethnicity and how the larger society affects Mexican Americans and specifies the links between ethnic identity and public policy; ethnic dimensions of gender and the dilemmas of high achieving Mexican American women. Most highly recommended. Lector.
NOTE: I am also listed as Phyllis Martinelli on Amazon. That site has some different publications by me so take a look if you are interested.
As a 3rd generation Italian American I was named after an uncle and my Mom was not familiar with the common double 'l' U. S. spelling of the name. Actually many Italian Americans women named Phylis or Phyllis are named after a female relative named Filomena, which does not translate exactly into English.
Phylis Cancilla Martinelli is currently Chair of the Department of Sociology at St Mary's College of California. Her areas of teaching and research include immigration, racial and ethnic group relations, medical sociology, urban studies, which came together in her new book on Arizona copper miners Undermining Race. Another area of interest is college students who are the first in their family to attend college. She is co-director of the Center for First Generation studies that she developed with Dr. Dana Herrera. The Center grew from their Foundation Generation Project, which examines the challenges faced by "first to college students" and also chronicles their contributions through their life histories.
Contacts between Italian and Mexican Americans were the focus of her M.A. thesis when she investigated ethnic succession in a San Francisco neighborhood. "The Excelsior Villagers," her thesis, was published in Struggle and Success, which she co-edited with Paola Sensi Isolani. A native of San Francisco, California, Phylis, her husband and their children moved with to Arizona where she became a member of the Phoenix History Project, collecting materials on neighborhoods and ethnic groups. Her dissertation, Ethnicity in the Sunbelt: Italian American Migrants to Scottsdale, Arizona, was published by AMS Press. With Dr. Martha Bernal she co-edited Mexican American Ethnic Identity, an Interdisciplinary Approach.
Interest in ethnicity and mining began with exploring Globe, Arizona then Bisbee, later Clifton/Morenci and Jerome, collecting oral histories and photographs on her visits. She has published articles on several of these towns and she also has publications on other topics.
A trip Spain's Rio Tinto copper mining district, first mined by Romans, piqued her interest in Spanish miners in the Southwest.
