William A. Calvo-Quirós is Assistant Professor of American Culture and Latinx Studies at the University of Michigan. His current research investigates the relationship between state violence, imagination, religiosity, and spirituality along the U.S. - Mexico border region during the twentieth century. His work studies the evolution and the politics of surveillance and control around Latino religiosity.
In this brilliant and beautiful book, William A. Calvo-Quir´os shows how for more than a century the miracles of migrant survival, subsistence, resistance, and affirmation have been fueled by the veneration of vernacular saints, most of whom remain not canonized by the Church. In the midst of exploitation, criminalization, and demonization, narratives about and appeals to Jesùs Malverde, Juan Soldado, Olga Camacho, Toribio Romo, and La Santa Muerte have enabled migrants to envision a future beyond oppression. The specific case studies in this book evoke a larger truth: that as people migrate, faith accompanies them, and becomes transformed in the process. * George Lipsitz, Author of The Possessive Investment in Whiteness * Through the storied figures of Jesus Malverde, Juan Soldado, Toribio Romo and La Santa Muerte, William Calvo-Quir´os tracks popular religiosity as a force in the Mexican migrant experience. The message on vernacular saints is clear : don't leave home without them. A rich and often riveting account that belongs in any conversation on transborder mexicanidad. * Mary Louise Pratt, Author of Planetary Longings *