“While young people, and particularly young people seeking refuge, are at the mercy of oppressive systems, Martínez sheds light on the ways they discover and enact their power. Her nuanced analysis makes visible the ways that global capitalist policies and processes on both sides of the border directly impact people.” —Amina Chaudhri, author of Multiracial Identity in Children’s Literature
“Martínez deftly uses data and social scientific research alongside her analysis of young adult novels to contextualize the causes of youth migration and to counter xenophobic ideologies that position migrants as criminal, deportable bodies.” —Cristina Herrera, author of ChicaNerds in Chicana Young Adult Literature: Brown and Nerdy
Susana S. Martínez’s Coming of Age(ncy) on the Migrant Trail maps the contours of agency in young adult literature involving Latine/x migrant youth—a project that could not be timelier given anti-immigrant hostility, LGBTQ+ book bans, and intense scrutiny of how we teach about race. Martínez leads readers chronologically and geographically from the 1980s Central American civil wars north through Mexico during the war on drugs to the recent experiences of those living undocumented in the United States, showing that YA is an ideal medium through which to tease out those stories of Central American migration that are often subsumed within Latine/x studies and to combat stereotypes of young migrants. Viewed through the lenses of intersectionality and racialized capitalism’s politics of disposability, the novels in question contribute to timely antiracist pedagogical discussions where youth emerge as catalysts for social change. By including non-Latinx authors who wrote about the Guatemalan and Salvadoran civil conflicts alongside authors from the Central American diaspora—Marcia Argueta Mickelson, Jennifer De Leon, and Bessie Flores Zaldívar among them—Martínez invites us to reflect on solidarity in contentious times.
Susana S. Martínez is Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages at DePaul University. Her articles have appeared in Ciberletras, Brújula, Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, and elsewhere.
Contents
Introduction
A Road Map and Chronology of Latine/x YA Literature on the Migrant Trail
Chapter 1 Defying Death: Fleeing Salvadoran and Guatemalan Political Violence in Latine/x YA Coming of Age(ncy) Narratives
Chapter 2 The Adolescent Migrant Journey through Mexico: Neoliberal Disposability in Latine/x YA Literature
Chapter 3 Fleeing Mexican Narcoviolence: Coming of Age(ncy) in Latine/x YA Novels
Chapter 4 Cross-Racial Solidarity in the Coming-of-Age(ncy) Journey: Navigating Undocumented Teen Romance in Latine/x YA
Chapter 5 “All Cages Must Break!”: Latine/x YA Finds Its Quetzal Voice and Tells Its Own Story
Conclusion A Long Time Coming: From the Coming-of-Age Journey to Latine/x YA(gency)
Acknowledgments
Works Cited
Index
