Arizona Firestorm: Global Immigration Realities, National Media, and Provincial Politics
A book on the recent legislative measures in Arizona may seem parochial, but in fact, this timely anthology is essential reading for understanding the national and global politics of labor migration. Working through the intricacies of Latin American immigration to Arizona, the authors illuminate the hyperlocal effects of globalization. They argue compellingly that the media and the racialization of immigrants have contributed to the polarization of immigration debates.(Lucila Vargas, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)This timely, well-documented and edifying book should itself serve as a firestorm, provoking numerous discussions that enlighten understanding of the causes and consequences of ill-conceived immigration policies. The authors provide superb in-depth analyses of the history and contexts that led to Arizona Senate Bill 1070, including the racially charged manipulations of public sentiments, opinions and votes. Of particular value is the presentation of how different media—general market and Latino-oriented—offered divergent news and interpretations of the new law and its detrimental effects on Arizona.Arizona Firestormis a must read for scholars, students, but most importantly for anyone involved in developing immigration policies.(Federico Subervi, Center for the Study of Latino Media & Markets, Texas State University, San Marcos)By linking today's news with Arizona's history and analysis this book shows how the important border, immigration and education firestorms now sweeping the state and beyond have been smoldering for years. Too often these issues have been overlooked or misrepresented by scholars or reporters trying to explain the state, which makes this book a "must read."(Félix Gutiérrez, University of Southern California)In their just released volume, Otto Santa Ana and Celeste González de Bustamante, coeditors ofArizona Firestorm, assembled top scholars in the fields of globalization, economics, immigration law, ethnic studies, education, and news media. The scholars cover critical aspects of Arizona's antiimmigrant politics that the media didn't. They explain the factors that compel immigrants to leave their homelands; they lay out the historical context behind Arizona's political acts, and consequences of these actions; and they describe the media's role in shaping national opinion about the subject…Juan González, Democracy Now radio co-host, writes thatArizona Firestormis ‘timely and remarkable’ and that its ‘most important contribution could well be its examination of how news media…have failed to provide ordinary Americans… adequate facts and context to understand this enormous movement of peoples between the two countries.’(The San Fernando Valley Sun)ReadingArizona Firestorm: Global Immigration Realities, National Media, and Provincial Politics, a scholarly compendium that explores in depth the fears, anxieties, myths and lies that resulted in SB 1070, Proposition 200 (the 2004 voter-ID law), the fight to kill ethnic studies in Tucson and the general anti-immigrant, racist atmosphere that still prevails in Jan Brewer's Arizona, I was struck by one essential truth: They can't win….Arizona Firestormis an essential book for our times. I'd suggest that it should be read in our public schools…(Tuscon Weekly)