The New Latinos

What role does location play in panethnic Latino identity? The salience and adoption of a panethnic identity are contested issues in the study of Latinos in contemporary American society. Using the case of Central Falls, Rhode Island, a “Hispanic/Latino majority” community, I bring together the literatures in context of reception and panethnicity to show how these inform each other. I show that contemporary identity adoption is informed by the panethnic origins of various institutions and the heterogeneous flow of migrants from multiple countries across Latin America. Central Falls and other postindustrial communities like it are small to midsize cities that served as the first homes for Ellis Island era migrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today these communities have undergone profound economic, social, and political changes that invite us to reconceptualize their role in American society. The panethnic postindustrial city can be characterized by several observable phenomena I go on to sketch. In this paper I contend that Latino panethnic identity adoption goes beyond the “censusfication” of the group (Nobles 2000). My interviews trace how the origins of Latino identity adoption are rooted in institutions such as churches, social service agencies, and schools. I then use data from a household survey to offer a snapshot of how migrants in the city see themselves. Using these data, I contend that studying panethnic Latino identity adoption requires closer attention to the context of reception at the local unit of analysis in order to better understand its various iterations and orientations. As migration from a broad range of Latin American countries to postindustrial cities across the northeast continues, the lessons from panethnic postindustrial Central Falls may provide insights into the direction that panethnic group identity will take in these communities.