The Undeserving Other: A Study of Service and Healthcare Providers\u27 Perspectives on Latino-ness in Williamsburg

Drawing from interviews with fourteen healthcare and social service providers, as well as participant observations at a local low-income clinic, this study examines professionals\u27 perceptions concerning the needs of Latino/a immigrants in the community and the barriers that patients face when accessing healthcare. I analyze the ways in which these healthcare workers and service providers define and construct the category of Latino. The study examines providers\u27 interpretations and assumptions regarding cultural differences as they affect patient care. I argue that despite these providers\u27 best intentions and commitment to providing healthcare to underserved populations, many of their approaches to and understandings of the category of Latino actually contribute to a process of othering that defines Latinos/as as outside of the imagined community of Williamsburg, and, indeed, the nation (Anderson 1985)