Kids at work : Latinx families selling food on the streets of Los Angeles /
Emir Estrada.
- New York : New York University Press, (c)2019.
- 1 online resource (vii, 207 pages) : illustrations
- Latina/o sociology series .
Includes bibliographies and index.
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction: Working with la Familia -- 1. "If I Don't Help Them, Who Will?": The Working Life -- 2. Street Vending in Los Angeles: A Cultural Economic Innovation -- 3. Working Side by Side: Intergenerational Family Dynamics -- 4. Making a Living Together: Communal Family Obligation Code and Economic Empathy -- 5. "I Get Mad and I Tell Them, 'Guys Could Clean, Too!' " -- 6. Street Violence: "I Don't Put Up a Fight Anymore" -- 7. "My Parents Want Me to Be Something in Life, Like a Lawyer or a Hero" -- Conclusion: "So, Are You Saying Children Should Work?" -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author
Street food markets have become wildly popular in Los Angeles-and behind the scenes, Latinx children have been instrumental in making these small informal businesses grow. In 'Kids at Work', Emir Estrada shines a light on the surprising labor of these young workers, providing the first ethnography on the participation of Latinx children in street vending. Drawing on dozens of interviews with children and their undocumented parents, as well as three years spent on the streets shadowing families at work, Estrada brings attention to the unique set of hardships Latinx youth experience in this occupation. She also highlights how these hardships can serve to cement family bonds, develop empathy towards parents, encourage hard work, and support children-and their parents-in their efforts to make a living together in the United States. 'Kids at Work' provides a compassionate, up-close portrait of Latinx children, detailing the complexities and nuances of family relations when children help generate income for the household as they peddle the streets of LA alongside their immigrant parents.
9781479881079
Child labor--California--Los Angeles--Case studies. Children of noncitizens--California--Los Angeles. Hispanic American families--Social conditions.--California--Los Angeles Immigrant families--California--Los Angeles. Latin Americans--Social conditions.--California--Los Angeles Street-food vendors--California--Los Angeles--Case studies. Illegal immigration--California--Los Angeles. Noncitizens.