Date Thesis Awarded
Spring 5-2009
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
Sociology
Advisor
Jennifer Bickham Méndez
Committee Members
Rene S. Cabral-Daniels
Jonathan Arries
Abstract
Drawing from interviews with fourteen healthcare and social service providers, as well as participant observations at a local low-income clinic, this study examines professionals' perceptions concerning the needs of Latino/a immigrants in the community and the barriers that patients face when accessing healthcare. I analyze the ways in which these healthcare workers and service providers define and construct the category of "Latino." The study examines providers' interpretations and assumptions regarding cultural differences as they affect patient care. I argue that despite these providers' best intentions and commitment to providing healthcare to underserved populations, many of their approaches to and understandings of the category of "Latino" actually contribute to a process of "othering" that defines Latinos/as as outside of the "imagined community" of Williamsburg, and, indeed, the nation (Anderson 1985).
Recommended Citation
Mason, Kim, "The Undeserving Other: A Study of Service and Healthcare Providers' Perspectives on "Latino-ness" in Williamsburg" (2009). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 857.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/857
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Comments
Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.