Latinization, Landscapes, and Soundscapes

Chapter 2 traces the long-term impact of Latino migration and the Latinization of communities. The chapter highlights the economic, cultural, and political influence of these newcomers by focusing on both the landscape and soundscape in the suburbs of Osceola County. The different ways that the demographic changes were talked about, understood, and sometimes contested are documented. Chapter 2 reveals how transformations to the landscape and soundscape and language ideologies impact racial identities, migrant incorporation, and the response to Latino migrants. These ideas or language ideologies reveal how linguistic practices are racialized along with other practices, physical characteristics, and signifiers of identity. Thus, this chapter begins to grapple with the complexity of race relations in the region by drawing attention to the circulation of racial anger, feelings of white exclusion, and the move to confine linguistic differences to the home.

Buenaventura Lakes

Chapter 1 sets the scene in Osceola County, Florida. The chapter goes back to the 1970s, to the formation of an international consortium of real estate developers—“the Mexican Millionaires”—who used real estate marketing strategies and the visceral imagery of luxurious country club living to attract Puerto Ricans to the Buenaventura Lakes suburb. This historical chapter shows how instrumental these corporate partners were in fostering an awareness of Greater Orlando’s real estate opportunities on the island of Puerto Rico and in the Puerto Rican concentrated communities of New York and Chicago, and directing the flow of mainland and island Puerto Ricans towards Greater Orlando instead of the traditional gateway cities. As a result, they created one of the largest Puerto Rican-concentrated suburbs in Central Florida.

Conclusion

The conclusion summarizes the contributions of the Greater Orlando case study and addresses the role of Latinos in challenging the south’s historic black-white racial binary. The chapter argues that the ethnographic fieldwork provides evidence of the social construction of a distinct Hispanic race and addresses the complexity of ethnoracial identity categorizations by examining the racialization of Hispanics and how they self-idenify.

The Fractured American Dream

Chapter 3 of the book focuses on the character, reputation, and place-identity of the Buenaventura Lakes suburb, and the impact of linguistic transformations due to the community’s Latinization. Drawing on various data sources, the chapter shows how talk about landscape aesthetics, living conditions, crime, racial, ethnic, and class identities, and language intertwine to reinforce social class distinctions and the racialization of suburban spaces, places, and therefore people. The strong connection between suburban living and prosperity is unraveling, and Buenaventura Lakes is a declining suburb representative of the changing social and economic conditions and demographics in suburbs across the United States. Buenaventura Lakes, once a community for “country club living” and “affordable luxury,” is perceived as a Latino “ghetto” or “slum” in the eyes of residents and non-residents, Latinos and non-Latinos. Despite the populations’ income diversity and the high prices of some homes, the residents are paradoxically described as poor, lower class, low income, or at best working class. Additionally, the concentration of Latinos is interpreted as a lack of diversity. Thus, this suburb is constructed as a non-white space, foreign and uncomfortable for non-Latino whites, which adds to residential segregation in Greater Orlando.

Introduction

The introduction provides the reader with essential background information on Puerto Rican and Latino patterns of migration and the recent demographic shifts. The chapter describes the research methodology followed by an explanation of US census racial categories that lead to the racialization of Latinos. The introduction ends with a description of each chapter in the book.

The Encargado System

Chapter 5 focuses on the residential spaces where ethnographic fieldwork was conducted. The encargado system, a method of profiteering through a system of subletting space to other migrants, is documented. Familial bonds between residents are described as well as conflicts that arise. Additionally, the chapter reflects on the ethnic identities of residents and their relationships with other Latinos.

Social Class Distinctions and the Latino Elite

Chapter 4 goes beyond Osceola County and the Buenaventura Lakes suburb to document the formation of a “Latino elite,” a community of professionals and entrepreneurs brought together by business networking organizations for Latinos. The chapter focuses on the elite spaces that are now being constructed, and these are the spaces of social clubs, golf courses, and business networking groups where the formation of a Latino upper class is now occurring. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the ethnographic vignettes throughout the chapter show how Puerto Ricans and other Latinos formulate, perform, and embody their social class positions, and the ways they perpetuate these differences through lifestyle choices and by articulating class based distinctions. Through this examination the reader will see how the everyday lives of individuals are shaped by their class positions and the distinctions that are made, consciously and unconsciously, thereby fostering a polarized Latino population. Ultimately, this chapter reveals how the exclusivity and elitism of the Latino upper class contrasts with the poverty, struggles, and criminalization experienced by the low-skilled, service sector labor force.