Race Migrations: Latinos and the Cultural Transformation of Race

larger than oneself is perfectly described by Ramirez-Valles. He depicts how stigmatized individuals, often through informal interactions, became organized around HIV-related issues. This organization, and the experiences entailed within the process, allowed individuals to challenge social stigmas and create new narratives for themselves and their communities. One particularly revealing verbalization from a participant describes volunteer work as a sense of home and family. In fact, Ramirez-Valles has allowed the reader to become better aware of how the HIV epidemic has permitted many, almost unexpectedly, to find a family of like-minded compañeros who can share both the joys and challenges of being oneself in highly stigmatizing contexts. Ramirez-Valles has made an important contribution to the literature on social stigmatization and oppression. This literature has tended to focus extensively on how people describe the experiences of social stigma, while neglecting an in-depth understanding of how individuals and communities challenge those negative notions of themselves. Through the eight presented life-stories, the author evidences how collective identities, forged as a response to stigma and oppression, can help individuals find agency and purpose in their lives. These collective identities forged by social activism in turn become an important issue for future stigma research. Compañeros shines a light into how individuals and communities can challenge social stigma and oppression. Ramirez-Valles, while informing social stigma research, sets in motion an important agenda for stigma research in the future. Race Migrations: Latinos and the Cultural Transformation of Race, by Wendy D. Roth. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2012. 254pp. $24.95 paper. ISBN: 9780804777964.