UC Irvine

Despite the extensive literature about urban places in the United States, rural places are frequently overlooked in scholarly discourse. Society often romanticizes rural places as idyllic, agrarian, and untainted spaces (Bell, 1992, 2007; Cloke, 2006; Halfacree, 1995; Theodori & Willits, 2019; Willits et al., 1990; Willits & Luloff, 1995). However, rural communities confront a multitude of social challenges, including pervasive poverty, limited educational attainment, and pervasive alcohol and drug challenges (Brown & Lichter, 2004; Garcia, 2008; Lichter & Brown, 2011; Roscigno et al., 2006; Van Gundy, 2006). While crime may occur less frequently in these areas, certain rural places experience higher rates of violent offenses compared to some urban counterparts (Morgan & Thompson, 2021). Furthermore, recent assessments have shed light on the disconcerting reality that rural regions have evolved into focal sites of mass incarceration, contributing significantly to the escalating number of people admitted to jails across the United States (Vera Institute of Justice, 2020; Kang-Brown & Subramanian, 2017; Eason, Zucker, & Wildeman, 2017). Notwithstanding existing research’s careful consideration of the distinctive nature of rural law enforcement and conceptions of rurality, a tendency exists to occasionally overlook the stigmatization and the profound ramifications it engenders in rural communities (an exception Eason, 2017b). To broaden our understanding of rural Latinx communities, this research assesses El Valle, a rural Hispanic community in New Mexico. Drawing on archives, interviews, and participant observation and a case study method (Yin, 2003), I investigate the intricate interplay between place, stigma, and identity, aiming to discern the consequences of territorial stigma in El Valle. Specifically, I seek to illuminate how territorial stigma affects individuals and shapes their identities. Furthermore, I explore the strategies that El Valle residents employ to navigate, resist, and shield themselves from the negative reputation attached to their community. Lastly, I delve into the experiences of practitioners in El Valle, shedding light on the perspectives of practitioners about the people they encounter in their work. Altogether, I argue that the interplay between news media, the state, and community members serves as a form of power to exercise domination, discipline, and social control over this community.