Description
Book SynopsisBeing Brown: Sonia Sotomayor and the Latino Questiontells the story ofthe country's first Latina Supreme Court Associate Justice'srise to the pinnacle of American public life at a moment of profound demographic and political transformation. While Sotomayor's confirmation appeared to signal the greater acceptance and inclusion of Latinosthe nation's largest minority majoritythe uncritical embrace of her status as a possibility model and icon paradoxically erased the fact that her success was due to civil rights policies and safeguards that no longer existed. Being Brownanalyzes Sotomayor's story of success and accomplishment, despite seemingly insurmountable odds, in order to ask:What do we lose in democratic practice when we allow symbolic inclusion to supplant the work of meaningful political enfranchisement? In a historical moment of resurgent racism, unrelenting Latino bashing, and previously unimaginable blood and soil Nazism,Being Brownexplains what we stand to lose when we allow democratic values to be trampled for the sake of political expediency, and demonstrates how understanding the Latino question can fortify democratic practice. Being Brownprovides the historical vocabulary for understanding why the Latino body politic is central to the country's future and why Sonia Sotomayor's biography provides an important window into understanding America, and the country's largest minority majority, at this historical juncture. In the process,Being Browncounters alternative facts with historical precision and ethical clarity to invigorate the best of democratic practice at ahistorical moment when we need it most.
Trade Review"Being Brown reads, and feels, like the right book at the right time. The dream of the ‘Brown Democratic Commons’ that drives so much of Lázaro Lima’s thought, and his hope, in this transformative study has never felt so possible, and so impossible, at the same time."
* Latino Studies *
Table of ContentsOverview
Introduction. On Being Brown
in the Democratic Commons
Part I. A latina for the nation
1. Sonia Sotomayor and “the Latino Question”
2. Sonia Sotomayor’s Elusive Embrace
Part II. Losing Sonia Sotomayor
3. Sonia Sotomayor, the Mediapheme
4. Sonia Sotomayor and Other States of Debt
Coda. Thinking Otherwise: Sonia Sotomayor and
the Emergence of Latino Legal Thought
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
