2020 Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award, given by the Children and Youth Section of the American Sociological Association.
2020 Early-Career Book of the Year Award from the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education
Book Summary
Street food markets have become wildly popular in Los Angeles—and behind the scenes, Latinx children have been instrumental in making these small informal businesses grow. In Kids at Work, Emir Estrada shines a light on the surprising labor of these young workers, providing the first ethnography on the participation of Latinx children in street vending.
Drawing on dozens of interviews with children and their undocumented parents, as well as three years spent on the streets shadowing families at work, Estrada brings attention to the unique set of hardships Latinx youth experience in this occupation. She also highlights how these hardships can serve to cement family bonds, develop empathy towards parents, encourage hard work, and support children—and their parents—in their efforts to make a living together in the United States. Kids at Work provides a compassionate, up-close portrait of Latinx children, detailing the complexities and nuances of family relations when children help generate income for the household as they peddle the streets of LA alongside their immigrant parents.
Read more about the 2020 Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award here.
WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING ABOUT KIDS AT WORK?
“In the children’s own voices, we learn about their economic contributions, their lives, and aspirations, but also from them about immigrant entrepreneurship, the complex dynamics in immigrant families, and childhood in general. ”
“This book brilliantly shows the agency of these young women and men who actively contribute to the well-being of their families.”
“Emir Estrada’s insightful ethnography reveals the complexity of the household economy of undocumented and mixed-status families in Los Angeles, from the standpoint of children who work as street vendors. ”
“Written clearly and accessibly, the book reveals the structural context in which vending becomes necessary, while underscoring the childrens’ agency that allows them to find meaning in the work they do to help support their families and their own aspirations. ”