Inventive Politicians and Ethnic Ascent in American Politics

Miriam Jiménez is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Oswego. Her research focuses on political incorporation and ethnic ascent in the context of American electoral frameworks and institutions such as the U.S. Congress. She is an eager proponent of cross-field and interdisciplinary perspectives. Her research interests include American politics, immigration, and transnationalism.

• Part I. Politicians, Institutions, and Change. 1. Uphill Struggles and Inventive Politicians 2. Italians and Mexicans in the U.S.: A Brief Historical Survey Part II. When Local Parties Ruled. 3. Big Machines and Inventive Italians 4. Mexican Americans: Invisibility and Exception Part III. National Standards—and More Parties 5. Italian-Americans: New Rules, Challenges, and Change 6. Mexican Americans: New Rules and Old Problems Part IV. Ethnic Ascent from a Micro Scale of Observation 7. Conclusion

"In Inventive Politicians and Ethnic Ascent in American Politics: The Uphill Elections of Italians and Mexicans to the U.S. Congress, Miriam Jiménez offers a series of rich, detailed case studies of the election of several of the first Italian Americans and Mexican Americans to Congress. In the process, she develops a model of ethnic political organization and political influence that speaks broadly to the process of ethnic political incorporation in the United States. Jiménez’s study carefully assesses not just the ethnic candidates who sought election to Congress and how they positioned themselves among co-ethnics, but also the critical role of changing political environments and institutional relationships necessary to ensure their election to office. This book adds to our understanding of the likely future electoral influence of today’s immigrant-ethnic populations."—Louis DeSipio, University of California, Irvine"Miriam Jiménez’s innovative micro-political approach in this book yields new insights that turn some of the axioms of common wisdom on their head. As a result, the book breathes freshness into a comparison between Italians and Mexicans that has become a bit stale in the hands of others."—Richard Alba, The Graduate Center, CUNY