This provocative book gives a cultural history of the immigration issue in the United States since 1965, using popular magazine covers as a fascinating entry into a discussion of our attitudes toward one of the most volatile debates in the nation.
Leo Chavez gathers and analyzes over seventy cover images from politically diverse magazines, including Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Business Week, The New Republic, The Nation, and American Heritage.
He traces the connections between the social, legal, and economic conditions surrounding immigration and the diverse images through which it is portrayed.
Drawing on insights from anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies, this original and perceptive book raises new questions about the media's influence over the public's increasing fear of immigration.
Chavez's research interests include international migration; household and family organization, composition, and structure; medical anthropology; breast and cervical cancer among Latinas; the anthropology of power relations; and, more recently, the analysis of visual images related to immigration and the nation.