Overview
My scholarly research focuses on the historical origins of racial and class oppression in the lives of Mexicano/as residing in the United States. Due to the reliance on Mexican labor in the rural industries of agriculture, mining, and railroad construction, my historical research explores the class and race formations of Anglo-Chicano relations as they relate to these sectors of rural spaces and the economy. I investigate the degree to which contemporary immigrant labor is informed by the history of Mexican incorporation into the rural United States. I seek to understand the underlying assumptions about nation, race, identity, gender and class in how the public forms our opinions about immigration and part of my hope is to carve out a new paradigm for understanding both the political economy and culture of immigration as well as its interconnections. Current research projects include:
? A social history of the U.S.-Mexico Bracero Program, 1942-1964.
? The U.S. consumption of Mexican immigrant labor from 1942 to the present.
? A critical analysis of US Census data on "Hispanics/Latinos" with an emphasis on the "Latinization" of rural New York and the United States.
? Intermountain West Resort Development and Mexican Re-Emerging Destinations: The New Economy, Tourism, Boom/Bust Cycles, and Serving Classes.
Research Focus
My research focuses on Latino community formation and how the history of Mexican immigration shapes contemporary Anglo-Chicano relations. I am interested in the rural industries of agriculture, mining, and railroad construction and their incorporation of Mexican labor. By connecting past and present, my contemporary research builds upon the history of Mexican labor incorporation and its relevance to new economies and migrant destinations.
Outreach and Extension Focus
Current Hatch-funded research allows me to explore Latino immigrant incorporation into rural New York. My research team analyzes Census data quality issues, the Latinization of rural spaces, and comparisons with other regions of the United States. A research agenda has begun to develop in the Rocky Mountains where the early history of mining boom/bust towns are informing the region`s economic restructuring in the development of high-amenity resort towns with intensive service sector labor market demands, most often filled by Mexican immigrants.
Instruction Focus
My teaching responsibilities are equally split between Latino Studies and Development Sociology. I teach Latino Communities, Latinos, Law, and Identity, and Comparative US Racial and Ethnic Relations that all have a major focus on Latino issues. I previously co-taught Introduction to Sociology and taught Comparative Social Inequalities last fall to fulfill my teaching commitment to Development Sociology. Courses Taught: DSOC/LSP/AMST 3750 Comparative U.S. Racial and Ethnic Relations; DSOC/LSP 3550/AMST 3570 Latinos, Law, and Identity; DSOC/LSP 2300/AMST 2310 Latino Communities; DSOC 1101 Introduction to Sociology; DSOC 3700/SOC 3710 Comparative Social Inequalities. I will teach a graduate level seminar on Comparative Race and Ethnicity next year.
Additional Links
Professional Activities
- "Reparations for Mexican Braceros? Outsider Jurisprudence and Grassroots Mobilization, " Invited Presenter. Reparations and the Law Conference. Washington College of Law, American University. Washington, D.C. March 30, 2006. - 2006
- "Courage in the Workplace: Social Justice In Action, " Keynote. Education Leadership Forum One. TST BOCES. Ithaca Country Club, October 2004. - 2004
- "Immigrant Labor and the Development Project: The Case of the US-Mexico Bracero
Program, 1942-1964. " Invited Talk to Department of Development Sociology and Latino Studies Program, Cornell University, January 2004. - 2004
- "Living, Breathing, the Believing the Sociological Imagination: Traversing the Terrain of
Critical Theory and Social Justice. " Invited Talk to Sarah Lawrence College, December 2003. - 2003
- "Braceros and the Pursuit of Justice: Restoring Silenced Memories in These Racialized
Times. " Invited Talk to Latina/o Studies Program, University of Illinois Champaign Urbana, November 2003. - 2003
Selected Publications
- Mize, Ronald L. (2007). "Sambo. " In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition, Volume 7. pp. 312-315. William Darity ed. NY: Thomson-Gale. 2007
- Mize, Ronald L. (2007). "Critical Race Theory. " In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition, Volume 2. pp. 174-176. William Darity ed. NY: Thomson-Gale. 2007
- Mize, Ronald L. "Power (In)-Action: State and Agribusiness in the Making of the Bracero Total Institution. " Berkeley Journal of Sociology. 50 (1): 76-119.
Mize, Ronald L. (2006). "Mexican Contract Workers and the U.S. Capitalist Agricultural Labor Process: The Formative Era, 1942-1964. " Rural Sociology. 71(1): 85-107. 2006
- Mize, Ronald L. and Vicki R. Ruiz. "Salt of the Earth. " In Latinas in
the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vicki Ruiz and Virginia Sanchez Korrol eds. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press. 2006
- Mize, Ronald L. "Mexican Contract Workers and the U.S. Capitalist Agricultural Labor
Process: The Formative Era, 1942-1964. " Rural Sociology. 71(1): 85-107. 2006
- Mize, Ronald L. "Communities. " In Latinas in
the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vicki Ruiz and Virginia Sanchez Korrol eds. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press. 2006
- Mize, Ronald L., Silverio Haro, Claudia Huiza, Anthony Navarrete, Patricia Rivas-McCrae and
Alfonso Rodriguez. "Head Start. " Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vicki Ruiz and Virginia Sanchez Korrol eds. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press. 2006
- Mize, Ronald L. "Reparations for Mexican Braceros? Lessons Learned from Japanese and
African American Attempts at Redress. " Cleveland State Law Review, LatCrit VIII Symposium Issue, 52(1/2): 273-295. 2005
- Seid, Michael, Donna Casta?eda, Ronald Mize, Mirjana Zivkovic and James Varni. "Crossing the border for health care: Access and primary care characteristics for young children of Latino farm workers along the U.S.-Mexico border. " Ambulatory Pediatrics. Vol. 3, No. 3: pp.121-130.
Listed as Publication in Rand Child Policy Project. (2003). Bibliography Topic: Child
Health. LRP-200305-34. http://www.rand.org/child/bib/4.html. 2003
- Mize, Ronald L., Silverio Haro, Claudia Huiza, Anthony Navarrete, Patricia Rivas-McCrae, and Alfonso Rodriguez. (2006). "Bilingual-Bicultural Literacy Pedagogies and the Politics of Project Head Start. " pp. 409-419 in The Praeger Handbook of Urban Education, Joe Kincheloe, P. Anderson, K. Rose, D. Griffith, and K. Hayes eds. NJ: Greenwood Press. 2003
- Mize, Ronald and Craig Leedham. "Manufacturing Bias: An Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Latino Immigration Issues. " Latino Studies Journal 11.2 (Spring): 88-107. 2000
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