Where the Ox Does Not Plow

Five Star Review – Collects twenty-six episodes of award-winning author Manuel Pena’s life journey , June 8, 2008

Where the Ox Does Not Plow: A Mexican American Ballad is an autobiographical ethnography, collecting twenty-six episodes of award-winning author Manuel Pena’s life journey from penniless migrant worker to successful academic and anthropologist. Pena reflects on problems and issues connected to the marginalized state of Mexicans and other Latinos in the United States. Vignettes of conflict between ethnicities, the difficulty of integrating into American society, family closeness, love, shock, and survival, Where the Ox Does Not Plow is a resoundingly authentic account of a rich and varied life, illustrated with a dozen black-and-white photographs.

Listen to Dr. Pena speak about his new book and other aspects of his life.

His book, The Texas-Mexican Conjunto, was the first ever to explore this popular accordion-based style, winning a prize in the prestigious Chicago Folklore Prize competition. The Mexican American Orquesta earned Dr. Peña an award for excellence from the Border Librarians Association. His Música Tejana is widely used in university classes on ethnic and ethnomusicology studies.

The book “Where the Ox Does Not Plow” consists of twenty-six episodes that chronicle Dr. Peña’s transformative life-journey from an impoverished migrant worker to a career as a university professor. Inspired by his experiences and those of the people around him in Texas and California, Dr. Peña reflects on a wide range of issues arising from the marginalized condition of Mexicans and other latinos in the Southwest. The book will engage readers in a broad range of human experiences, from race relations and economic exploitation to the intimacy of familial and romantic love.