The Trouble with Unity

Journalist Sandra Lilley interviewed me for an article on NBCLatino.com, posted Sept. 19, based on an IBOPE/Zogby International survey:

…“What is interesting is that surveys and polls consistently show
Latinos mostly identify with the U.S. and with being American, and yet
this is continually a surprise to the general public,” says Cristina
Beltrán, PhD, an associate professor of  social and cultural analysis
and the Director of Latino Studies at New York University.…

“The fact we have an attachment to our culture does not preclude our
political and civic attachments,” says Beltrán, the author of The Trouble with Unity: Latino Politics and the Creation of Identity.

Somehow I ended up as a guest on the September 2 episode of MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry, discussing the upcoming Democratic National Convention alongside political scientist Dan Drezner, LGBT activist Aisha Moodie-Mills, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, and Myrna Pérez of the Brennan Center for Justice. It was my first-ever TV appearance, and the three days' notice allowed insufficient time to undergo media training, but from most accounts I wasn't a total disaster. And the experience was surprisingly fun! Definitely helped that Melissa's show is one on which guests generally converse rather than shout.

MSNBC's links to the show segments are here, here, here, and here.

In the September 2011 issue of Perspectives on Politics, Jeff Spinner-Halev of UNC-Chapel Hill reviews The Trouble with Unity along with Juliet Hooker's Race and the Politics of Solidarity. Professor Spinner-Halev offers a challenging, generally upbeat take on the book: "The idea of applying political theory to movement politics is certainly unusual, but Beltrán deftly weaves together empirical observation with normative insight in ways that allow us to see the dangers and promises of identity-based political movements." 

And then, in the February 2012 issue of Political Theory, Lawrie Balfour of UVA writes a beautiful and carefully wrought review essay about TTWU and Elizabeth Anderson's The Imperative of Integration. Some of Professor Balfour's more generous assertions regarding the book: "[A] dazzling reading of Latino politics.… One of the signal achievements of The Trouble with Unity is its capacity to vivify the political value and limitations of theoretical canons, old and new. If Beltran's argument stimulates conversation across disciplinary boundaries and takes democratic theory to places where it has not typically wanted to go, she also offers a forceful reminder of why political theorists return to hallowed texts. The Trouble with Unity puts political theorists on notice."

The Trouble with Unity has landed another award, from Casa de las Américas, for the category of Latino Studies in the United States. It's one of seven books honored by this prestigious Cuban cultural organization, and the only one in English. A real honor.

Thanks to the APSA committees for the Ralph Bunche Award and the Race, Ethnicity and Politics section!

Women in Academia Report posted a nice item highlighting four recipients of APSA book awards; I'm there alongside Jane Mansbridge, Frances Rosenbluth, and Margie Hershey. 

I learned about this several weeks ago, but at last the American Political Science Association has announced its 2011 "awards for excellence in the study, teaching, and practice of politics," so it's OK to post. APSA awarded The Trouble with Unity the Ralph Bunche Award, which "recognizes the best scholarly work in political science published in the previous calendar year that explores the phenomenon of ethnic and cultural pluralism." The Bunche is one of only four "major" APSA book awards, so it's a real honor.

The first external review of The Trouble with Unity. From the April 2011 issue of Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: "Beltrán (Haverford College) argues that many scholars assume that Latinos share a common consciousness, but this assumption creates problems for adequately studying the Latino role in US culture and politics.… Beltrán champions an agonistic public sphere and a politics of representation ('Latino Is a Verb') over identification. She concludes with a sophisticated analysis of social justice in the Latino community instead of a flawed equation of political agreement with identity. This book is useful for general readership and all undergraduate work on Latino studies in the US. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and undergraduate students."