This study reclaims and builds upon the classic work of anthropologist
Elena Padilla in an effort to examine constructions of space and
identity among Latinos. The volume includes an annotated edition of
Padilla's 1947 University of Chicago master's thesis, "Puerto Rican
Immigrants in New York and Chicago: A Study in Comparative
Assimilation," which broke with traditional urban ethnographies and
examined racial identities and interethnic relations. Weighing the
importance of gender and the interplay of labor, residence, and social
networks, Padilla examined the integration of Puerto Rican migrants into
the social and cultural life of the larger community where they settled.
Also included are four comparative and interdisciplinary original essays
that foreground the significance of Padilla's early study about Latinos
in Chicago. Contributors discuss the implications of her groundbreaking
contributions to urban ethnographic traditions and to the development of
Puerto Rican studies and Latina/o studies. Contributors are Nicholas De
Genova, Zaire Z. Dinzey-Flores, Elena Padilla, Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas,
Mérida M. Rúa, and Arlene Torres.