The 25 questions represent basic themes of Trueba's book. They are closely related to what you will encounter in the book examination, although these questions are not identical to the ones in the test. If you are able to answer these 25 questions you will be in a relative good standing for the test. I'm not going to give the answers to the questions in the class preview. I will only ratify (or dispute) the responses that you the students are expected to prepare as part of your reading of the book.

Felipe Pimentel

1- How Trueba portraits the Latinos in his essay Latino Unidos?

2- What distinguishes the construction process of the new Latino ethnic identity that according to Trueba is emerging in the US?

3- To what situation/condition the formation of this new Latino identity seems to be closely related?

4- Which are the territories Mexico lost in the southwest (in the mid-19th Century) that became part of the US? Do you remember the name of that war?

5- What many white Americans would like to do (in the southern border states) to reduce Mexican emigration into the US?

6- Which are the "parameters and the constraints" of the so called "politics of self- identity" that serve many Latinos to survive in the US ?

7- In 1990 the Latino population in US had increased to over 20 millions. Where these Latinos are concentrated?

8- According to Trueba's essay which Latino groups do have a relative high use of public assistance (welfare) in the US?

9- What are the main motivations for Latinos to come and stay in the US?

10- How many Latino students are seen by many Anglo teachers who subscribe to what Trueba refers to as the "deficit mentality" in his book?

11- How was the overall educational attainment of Latinos in 1990 according to the Census data quoted by Trueba?

12- The current public debate on Affirmative Action in the US, has created a political controversy between different groups. Can you explain this "controversy"?

13- What is the main theoretical source of what is being called the "pedagogy of hope" in this book?

14- Can you mention some of the most common problems faced by junior Latino faculty in many US colleges and universities?

15- What socio-cultural rituals and experiences Trueba describes that take place in many villages/towns when Mexican immigrants return to their places of origin in Mexico?

16- Why is so important (according to this book) that many Latino children manage to retain a strong self-identity and remain part of their socio-cultural community?

17- How many Mexican mothers express their strong commitment to their children future and success in the US?

18- What has happened in California commercial agriculture since the 1960s with the increase of Mexican manual laborers?

19- Why Latino women (in Trueba's opinion) are considered the stronghold of the immigrant families?

20- Do you know what is the United Farm Workers of America?

21- Why Consuelo, (a Mexican working woman interviewed by Trueba) want that her children born in the US can speak Spanish?

22- Why (according to Trueba's analysis) Mexican immigrants are involved simultaneously in two national spaces, two cultures, and even two languages?

23- How and why the "adaptive responses" Mexican immigrants to the new social and cultural context in the US will diverge from one group of immigrants to another?

24- What kind of social identities Latinos construct in the US when they cope and interact simultaneously within diverse social, cultural, and linguistic domains?

25-At the end of this book we are presented with what Enrique Trueba calls a "praxis for a pedagogy of hope". What it means for immigrant Latino children?