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University of California Press

Pressing Onward

The Imperative Resilience of Latina Migrant Mothers
by Jessica P. Cerdeña (Author)
Hardcover Paperback eBook
Price: $29.95 / £25.00
Publication Date: Apr 2023
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 244
ISBN: 9780520394032
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 4 maps, 2 charts, 1 b&w image, 3 tables
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About the Book

Pressing Onward centers the stories of mothers who migrated from Latin America, settled in New Haven, Connecticut, and overcame trauma and ongoing adversity to build futures for their children. These migrant mothers enact imperative resilience, engaging cognitive and social strategies to resist racial, economic, and gender-based oppression to seguir adelante, or press onward. Both a contemporary view of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on racially minoritized populations and a timeless account of the ways immigration enforcement and healthcare inequality affect migrant mothers, Pressing Onward uses ethnography to tell a greater story of persistence amid long-standing structural violence.

About the Author

Jessica P. Cerdeña is an anthropologist, family physician-in-training, and mother of two who lives in New Haven, Connecticut, where she advocates for racial justice and health equity (Twitter: @jes_cerdena).

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments 
Preface 

Introduction: On Love Alone 

1. Leaving 
2. Moving 
3. Arriving 
4. Mothering 
5. Surviving 
Conclusion: Onward 

Appendix A. Methods 
Appendix B. Ethnographic Tables 
Appendix C. Organizations for Immigration and Health Policy Reform and Activism 
References 
Index

Reviews

"[Cerdeña’s] own experiences as an activist and volunteer strengthen her commentary on the failures of health care services available to undocumented women, particularly in relation to prenatal and maternity needs. . . .. In the end, it is their words that give this work coherence and meaning. . . .Recommended."
— CHOICE
"Pressing Onward is a stunning book, taking well-studied themes and presenting a fresh, relevant, and innovative take. It is unique in several ways, managing to address many of the core themes related to Latinx populations in the United States. Really, really impressive."—Alyshia Gálvez, Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies and Anthropology at Lehman College

"Beautifully conceived and organized, Pressing Onward focuses on the resilient ways Latinx women have overcome adversity during a global pandemic and in doing so have supported their families, social relationships, and socio-spiritual selves."—Emily Mendenhall, author of Unmasked: COVID, Community, and the Case of Okoboji

"Jessica Cerdeña rethinks resilience as a form of resistance to oppression and inequity. The mothers whom she works alongside are blamed for the social and health inequities that affect them, but they actively press onward."—Seth M. Holmes, author of Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies and Chancellor's Professor at University of California, Berkeley

Media

View the Book Trailer for Pressing Onward (Spanish)
View the Book Trailer for Pressing Onward