ABSTRACT
On the wall of the downtown post office in Ames, Iowa, a mural offers a surprising message to patrons: the lives of Iowans and of the Mexican newcomers immigrating to Iowa are inextricably linked. The mural depicts, on the left-hand side, an Aztec farmer bending over to work the land. There is a pyramid in the background, as well as a statue of a god. On the right-hand side, the mural depicts a parallel scene but with an Iowa farmer instead. The pyramid has been replaced with a factory, the god with a microscope. Dividing the scenes is an ear of corn (Figure 6.1). When Mexican students in a neighboring demographically transitioning community are asked to consider what the mural’s message is, they don’t miss a beat. “Se trata de la unificación del hombre sobre la cultivación del maíz,” they answer. “It’s about the unification of man over the cultivation of corn.”
