Political Arithmetic: Latino Civil Rights and the Statistical Imagination

This panel takes up questions of Latinos and the political by conceiving of Latino politics beyond the traditional confines of political science. Considering issues of racialization and illegality, right-wing multiculturalism,... [ view full abstract ]

This panel takes up questions of Latinos and the political by conceiving of Latino politics beyond the traditional confines of political science. Considering issues of racialization and illegality, right-wing multiculturalism, the authoritarian turn in contemporary neoliberalism, the affective power of demographics, the limits of statistical argumentation, and the cruel optimism of liberal pluralism — this panel seeks to explore alternative approaches to understanding the complex dynamics of contemporary Latino politics. Drawing on political science and social science research, each of these papers explores the value and limits of such approaches to political problems. Turning to a wide variety of theorists and thinkers (including Antonio Gramsci, Leo Chavez, Jacques Rancière, Nicholas DeGenova, Sara Ahmed, and Michael Saward) this panel will explore how disciplinary knowledge and interdisciplinary crossings can together produce a deeper understanding of Latinos and the many ways they practice politics and engage with questions of the political.

PANELISTS AND PAPER TITLES
"Courting While Criminalizing: Latinos and the 2016 Republican Primary" by Cristina Beltrán, New York University

"Nuestro Gramsci: Antonio Gramsci’s Theoretical and Epistemological Relevance to Contemporary Latino Politics, Culture, and Society" by Alfonso Gonzales, University of Texas, Austin

"Political Arithmetic: Latino Civil Rights and the Statistical Imagination" by Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz, University of Chicago

"Latino Racialization: Illegality, Linked Fate, and American Identity" by Chris Zepeda-Millán, UC Berkeley

Discussant and Chair: Crystal Parikh, Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University