People in Sociology - Faculty

Jessica Vasquez

Professor Jessica M. Vasquez (PhD University of California, Berkeley) has her first book, Mexican Americans across Generations: Immigrant Families, Racial Realities, forthcoming with New York University Press (due out 2011).  Her fields of specialty include Race/Ethnicity, Mexican Americans/Latinos, Family, Identity, International Migration, Assimilation, and Race/Gender/Class intersections.  She has published articles in Ethnic and Racial Studies and Sociological Perspectives.  She is currently working on a project involving marriage/partnership, ethnic culture, and family dynamics among Latinos. Areas: Race/Ethnicity, Mexican Americans/Latinos, Family, Identity, and Culture.

DOES IMMIGRATION LEAD TO ASSIMILATION?

My research deals centrally with the roles that race/ethnicity and family play in assimilation/incorporation processes. As a nation comprised largely of immigrants and their U.S.-born descendents, I think it is important to investigatehow that experience shapes one's racial/ethnic identity and life experience in the United States. My work shows that integration (into middle-class society, for example) does happen over generations and that social elements like gender, skin color, and family teachings influence how the U.S.-born children and grandchildren of immigrants understand their lives.

Professor Jessica Vasquez's Curriculum Vitae

Fall 2011 Classes

Professor Vasquez is not teaching for the academic year 2011-2012.