A powerful and challenging look at what “success” and belonging mean in America through the eyes of Latino high schoolers.
This book challenges dominant representations of the so-called American Dream, those “patriotic” narratives that focus on personal achievement as the way to become an American. This narrative misaligns with the lived experience of many first- and second-generation Latino immigrant youth who thrive because of the nurture of their loved ones. A story of social reproduction and change, The Succeeders illustrates how ideological struggles over who belongs in this country, who is valuable, and who is an American are worked out by young people through their ordinary acts of striving in school and caring for friends and family.
In this eye-opening book, Andrea Flores examines how ideological struggles over who belongs in this country, who is valued, and who is considered to be an American are worked out by young people through ordinary acts of striving in school and caring for friends and family. Through examining the experiences of everyday Latino high school students—some undocumented, some citizens, and some from families with mixed immigration status—Flores traces how these youth, in the college-access program Succeeders, leverage educational success toward national belonging for themselves and their families, friends, and communities. These young people come to redefine what it means to belong in the United States by both conforming to and contesting the myth of the American Dream rooted in individual betterment. Their efforts demonstrate that meaningful national belonging can be based in our actions of caring for others. Ultimately, The Succeeders emphasizes the vital role that immigrants play in strengthening the social fabric of society, helping communities everywhere to thrive.
"The Succeeders contributes to a much-needed counternarrative of the struggles of those immigrant youth who desire to make it in America. The often-told narrative of Latino youth as criminals is all too pervasive today, not just among some very conservative politicians and pundits but also on television and in the movies. Flores’ book is an excellent case study that reminds us that theories of exclusion, abject status, and racialization are also lived experiences that must be overcome.”––Leo Chavez, author of The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation
"An excellent contribution to the literature on immigrant, Latinx, and particularly undocumented youth in the United States. The Succeeders also adds to the literature on 'new' destinations for Latinx immigration, in this case Tennessee. In my view, the most novel contribution is the way that Flores describes youth participants in the program called Succeeders. The participants construct kinship among each other through care and articulate an alternative view of citizenship and belonging that defies the marginalization imposed overtly by anti-immigrant discourses and policies, as well as defying the 'softer' marginalization of low expectations and stereotypes about the eligibility of low-income Latinx youth to succeed according to white, middle class, academic standards."––Alyshia Gálvez, author of Eating NAFTA: Trade, Food Policies, and the Destruction of Mexico´
"For many Latino students, the American Dream is as elusive as it is seductive. The ever-moving target of inclusion is generally predicated on academic achievement and excellence. But the lines that draw deservingness oftentimes leave loved ones outside. Based on an impressive mixed-methods study, Andrea Flores adds a layer of complexity to this story by showing how these students attempt to eschew the individualistic model of success, while also becoming complicit in it. Theoretically sophisticated, engaging, and cogently argued, The Succeeders sheds important light on contemporary questions of belonging, exclusion, and possibility."––Roberto G. Gonzales, Richard Perry University Professor, University of Pennsylvania
