Select Publications - Laura E. Gómez

Monographs

August 2020, The New Press, read more about my newest publication

“Gómez shows us that as racism evolves, the U.S. commitment to racism remains steady, creating, but never quite controlling, Latinos as a distinct racial group.” — César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, author of Migrating to Prison
“Gómez puts racism, colonialism, white dominance, and community resistance exactly where they should be: at the heart of the conversations about Latinos today, and the nature of race in the United States tomorrow.” — Ian F. Haney López, Director, Racial Politics Project, Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at Berkeley Law
“‘Race isn’t real, but racism is.’ So affirms Gómez in this bold, incisive interrogation of “the how and why of Latinx identity becoming a distinctive racial identity” from 1848 to 2020…[S]he delivers a rigorous and provocative study of the liminal zone Latino/as inhabit in America’s racial continuum. Required reading.” Michael Rodriguez, University of Connecticut, Storrs

Second Edition, 2018, NYU Press

See interviews and media coverage or purchase the second edition from NYU Press, Amazon, or B&N

“Gómez manages, at once, to explore subtle variations and contradictions within racial categories without obscuring the murderous hate at the heart of the racism that still centrally defines life in the United States.” — Gerald P. López, author of Rebellious Lawyering: One Chicano’s Vision of Progressive Law Practice
“Manifest Destinies is as compelling now as it was in its first edition a decade ago and if anything even more timely. Expertly combining critical race theory, sociology, politics, ethnic studies, and military history, Gómez dramatizes both the peculiarities of the New Mexican case and its deep importance to understanding the nations racial history.” — David Roediger, author of How Race Survived U.S. History

First Edition, 2007, NYU Press

“What one sees in Manifest Destinies is how race works as an organizing principle in American history. The American racial project, commonly understood as a black/white paradigm, is in fact a complex and fluid system in which every group’s status—from recently arrived immigrants to white “ethnic” groups—is overdetermined by race. This insight, more than any other, is why this book must be read.” — Sherene Razack, author of Dying From Improvement: Inquests and Inquiries into Indigenous Deaths in Custody
“In this provocative analysis, the sociologist and legal scholar Gómez offers a compelling argument for the unique racial status of Mexican Americans, significant (and increasing) proportions of whom identify as nonwhite… her steady focus and original approach make Manifest Destinies essential reading for scholars of race in America.” — Stephanie J. Cole in the Journal of American History
In 2015, the renowned federal judge Jack B. Weinstein cited this edition in a ruling that a Latina mother’s constitutional rights had been violated and against the defendant’s argument that Latinos could not be victims of racial discrimination.

1997, Temple University Press

“Gómez tracks the life cycle of [prenatal drug exposure] from its initial “discovery” as a social problem arising from its alarming portrayal in the media and medical research to its institutionalization in state bureaucratic agencies as a public health concern. The responses of California state legislators and district attorneys provide a case study of how social problems are defined and solved. The book’s sociological approach is a refreshing departure from the now-familiar legal analysis that frames the prosecution of prenatal crimes as a contest between maternal and fetal rights.” — Dorothy E. Roberts, author of the How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century

“The clear strength of this book is found in Gómez’ analysis of this specific issue as a valid policy concern…It is for her insights surrounding the political, ideological, and philosophical tensions involved in the development and implementation of this policy that this book is worth reading.” — Law & Politics Book Review

Co-Edited Anthology

Co-Editor with Nancy López; 2013, Rutgers University Press

Access my chapter, “Taking the Social Construction of Race Seriously in Health Disparities Research” or purchase this book at Rutgers University Press, Amazon, or B&N

“Mapping ‘Race’ provides keen insights about race as a social construction. With its coherent theme and presentation of possible ways to study race and health, this book will fill an important vacuum in the scholarship on the topic.” — David T. Takeuchi, School of Social Work, University of Washington
“The arguments in Mapping ‘Race’ are at the cutting edge of research; the authors’ tight focus on health and health disparities is sensible and timely. Besides outlining racial disparities in health, the authors provide an executable set of solutions.” — Rachel T. Kimbro, Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Sociology, Rice University