To read this content please select one of the options below:

Sustained Mobilization for Immigrant Rights: A Comparative Case Study of the San Joaquin Valley

Maria De Jesus Mora (California State University, Stanislaus, USA)

Race and Space

ISBN: 978-1-80117-725-2, eISBN: 978-1-80117-724-5

Publication date: 24 October 2022

Abstract

The national immigrant rights campaign of 2006 stands as one of the largest mobilizations by people of color in US history, yet less scholarly attention has been given to systematically comparing these mobilizations at the local level. To develop an understanding of what led to sustained mobilization, a comparative case study analysis of seven cities in California's San Joaquin Valley is employed. The empirical evidence is based on interviews with key organizers and participants, newspaper documentation of protest events, census data, and other secondary sources. I find that the presence and size of policy threats explained the initial protest during the spring of 2006 in all localities, but cities with elaborate resource infrastructures (preexisting organizations, histories of community organizing, and coalitions) had more enduring levels of collective action.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

I thank Paul Almeida, Tanya Golash-Boza, Marjorie Zatz, Charlie Eaton, Ashley Metzger, the anonymous reviewers, and RSMCC editor for their informative feedback on early versions of this manuscript. This research was supported by UC MEXUS and the Resource Center for Community Engaged Scholarship (ReCCES) at the University of California, Merced. Finally, I extend my deepest gratitude to the Central Valley community organizers who shared their stories of resistance with me.

Citation

Mora, M.D.J. (2022), "Sustained Mobilization for Immigrant Rights: A Comparative Case Study of the San Joaquin Valley", Leitz, L. (Ed.) Race and Space (Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Vol. 46), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 109-137. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-786X20220000046006

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022 Maria De Jesus Mora. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited