Race Talk in a Mexican Cantina

TATCHO MINDIOLA is professor emeritus of sociology and the former director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston. He is coauthor of Black-Brown Relations and Stereotypes.

• Contents Foreword, by Rubén O. Martinez Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. The Bar Chapter 2. Mexicans vs. Whites Chapter 3. White Patrons Push Back Chapter 4. Meskins, Peppers, Being White, and Slurs Chapter 5. African Americans Conclusion References Index

This ethnographic study focuses on JB’s, a small Mexican neighborhood bar primarily patronized by Mexican American and white men in Houston. Informal and friendly conversations, joking and teasing, profanity and male posturing expose deep structural, cultural, and power differences between these two groups. Paradoxically in this social space where race talk is a dominant theme, Mexicans are the aggressors and whites often the victims. These social interactions reveal new insights into Mexican Americans’ self-perception and their place in contemporary society.—Avelardo Valdez, Cleofas and Victor Ramirez Professor of Practice, Policy, Research and Advocacy for the Latino Population, USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California