We Play Too: Latina Integration through Soccer in the "New South"

Headnote

The migration of Latino immigrants to the rural South is now well documented. The creation of cultural spaces for immigrants and their families on soccer fields is flourishing throughout the region. These fields, long a bastion of male leagues and games focused on men, are now being integrated by Latina women with their own teams and leagues. This field note provides the personal perspective of three young female soccer players as they are pulled between the traditional expectations for women in their culture and their desire to be athletic and competitive in sports. The stories of the women reveal that Latinas are integrating into the society and challenging norms as well as developing a new Latina identity.

La migración de latinos al Sur rural actualmente está bien documentada. La creación de espacios culturales como campos de fútbol para los inmigrantes y sus familias está floreciendo en toda la región. Estos campos, por mucho tiempo un bastión de las ligas masculinas y juegos enfocados a los hombres, están siendo integrados por las mujeres latinas con sus propios equipos y ligas. Esta nota de campo ofrece la perspectiva personal de tres jóvenes jugadoras de fútbol femenino, las cuales se ven en el dilema de estar entre las expectativas tradicionales de las mujeres en su cultura y su deseo de ser atléticas y competitivas en los deportes. Las historias de las mujeres revelan que las latinas se están integrando a la sociedad y están desafiado las normas, así como desarrollando una nueva identidad latina.

key words: Latina, soccer, field, identity and integration

It is early Sunday morning and the cars begin to pull into the Tienda Diana soccer fields in Siler City, North Carolina. The fields are located on the outskirts of the small poultry-processing town that was one of the inspirations for Mayberry, the quintessential small Southern town depicted on the Andy Griffith TV show. These fields are in constant use on Sundays when the poultry workers let off steam from a hard week of work. Soccer on Sundays is the one thing the men look forward to during long work days.

But the men are not the only ones who are showing up with their cleats on Sundays these days. This morning, it's women,...