Rocío Rosales, UCI sociology associate professor, has received the American Sociological Association Distinguished Book Award from the Latinx Sociology Section. The honor recognizes her book, Fruteros: Street Vending, Illegality, and Ethnic Community in Los Angeles, in which she tells the stories of Los Angeles street vendors and the complex structure of their paisano social networks that have both helped and hindered their new lives in the U.S. Her work examines the hometown links that can be lifelines for entry to the U.S. as well as exploitive networks for an already marginalized population. She also earned an honorable mention for Fruteros from the ASA International Migration Section for taking on a timely migration issue.

Click for an in-depth Q&A with Rosales on Fruteros

Rosales joined the UCI sociology faculty in 2014 following a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC San Diego in the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies. She completed her A.B. in sociology (cum laude) with a certificate in Latin American studies at Princeton University and her Ph.D. in sociology at UCLA. Her research focuses on international migration, immigrant and ethnic economies, race and ethnicity, law and society, Latinas/os in the U.S., and qualitative research methods. Her work, which has been featured in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and Ethnic and Racial Studies, has been funded by the American Philosophical Society, John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Mellon Mays Foundation.

Joining her in receipt of the ASA Latinx Sociology Section book award is Laura Enriquez, UCI Chicano/Latino studies associate professor. And UCI colleague Edward Telles, sociology Distinguished Professor, joins Rosales in receiving an honorable mention from the ASA International Migration Section. The three will be among this year’s award recipients honored at the ASA annual meeting to be held virtually August 6-10.