Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-279) and index.
Contents:
Introduction -- Mortgaged status -- Class suicide -- Cultural betrayal -- Status panic -- Racial investments -- Switched allegiances -- Epilogue
Summary:
Race and Upward Mobility examines how class and ethnicity serve as forms of currency in American literature, affording people of color material and symbolic wages as they traverse class divisions. Identifying four recurring character types -- status seekers, conflicted artists, mediators, and gatekeepers -- that appear across genres, Elda Maria Roman traces how each models a distinct strategy for negotiating race and class. Her comparative analysis sheds light on the overlaps and misalignments, the shared narrative strategies, and the historical trajectories of Mexican American and African American texts, bringing both groups' works into sharper relief. Her study advances both a new approach to ethnic literary studies and a more nuanced understanding of the class-based complexities of racial identity.
Series:
Stanford studies in comparative race and ethnicity
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.