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required are multilateral negotiations that address and remedy long-standing eco- nomic and structural inequalities between the two regions. As the maps of the United States and Latin America increasingly overlap one another, we need to turn to histories such as those found in Latino America: A State-by-State Encyclopedia to redraw our conceptual and geopolitical maps of the country, hemisphere, and world, and to expand rather than restrict our access to new routes and possibili- ties for freer movement and lives. About the Encyclopedia Authored by an interdisciplinary group of scholars, Latino America: A State-by- State Encyclopedia is uniquely conceptualized to address the historical signifi- cance of the growing Latino/a American population throughout the United States. The set contains geographically distinct entries according to individual states and the District of Columbia.4 Clearly presented for a general audience, this compar- ative method of organizing material importantly and appropriately moves the focus of the Latino/a experience from studies of gateway states in the Southwest to a national level. Besides paying careful attention to the transnational dimen- sions of Latin American migration to the U.S, individual entries critically examine the wide range of different Latino/a identities, ethnicities, and social and political positions at the state level. In doing so, the authors engage a broader understand- ing of the central role of people of Latin American and Caribbean origin and her- itage in the United States. As with all large edited works, there is a creative tension between uniformity and consistency on the one hand, and the uniqueness of the subject and its authors’ scholarship on the other. The varying historical experiences of Latinos/as in each state challenged authors to examine different chronological and thematic emphases. Additionally, authors came to this project with their own disciplinary lenses and approaches. With all of this in mind, authors sought to incorporate themes that surpass national and intercultural boundaries, while simultaneously revealing some of the more salient sources of internal division among Latinas/os. Themes analyzed include the trans- and international dimension of Latin America’s relationship with U.S. Latinas/os, cultural nationalisms, identity formations, polit- ical membership, gender relations, race and racism, labor and immigration law, and religion and expressive cultures. Certain elements have been omitted while privileging others. For example, a decision was made not to have Puerto Rico as one of the chapters in this ency- clopedia, because, despite the fact that inhabitants of the island of Puerto Rico were made U.S. citizens in 1917, they continue to be perceived as “foreign to the United States in a domestic sense” by the U.S. government, which makes them occupy a liminal status between state and colony. Although not the subject of a Introduction xxi