Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

1-7-2016

SSRN Discipline

Legal Scholarship Network; PSN Subject Matter eJournals; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; AARN Subject Matter eJournals; Political Science Network; Anthropology & Archaeology Research Network; Political Behavior eJournals

Abstract

I enlist my alter ego Rodrigo to analyze Latino legal history and civil rights Encountering the Professor after testifying at a hearing on an immigration bill Rodrigo excitedly tells his old friend and mentor about a new body of writing he has come across Postcolonial theory which deals with issues such as cultural survival resistance and collaboration can help move American civil rights scholarship beyond its current impasseOver dinner Rodrigo demonstrates how insights from these writers can enrich US civil rights theory and practice He also posits a new theory of Latinos sociolegal construction based on a triple taboo that can enable Latino people and litigators to understand and change their condition Rodrigo shows how dominant society has invested Latinos with a complex stereotype consisting of filth hypersexuality and jabber so that Anglos will unconsciously devalue the group and their rights To progress therefore Latino people must understand and challenge this social construction much as their forebears have done through corridos actos cantares and other forms of insurrectionary folk literature and actions

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