Constituting citizens 'Mexican migrants' and the discourses and practices of United States citizenship
Year: 2005
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This dissertation examines the discourses and practices of citizenship in the \nUnited States through an analysis of interviews carried out with a group of Mexican \nmigrants who are in the process of acquiring, or have recently acquired, U.S. citizenship, \nparticipation and observations at citizenship promotion events and naturalization \nceremonies, and interviews of individuals promoting citizenship. The discourses of \ncitizenship are contextualized through an examination of statutes, historical material, \nlegal cases, and other documents. Theoretically, the dissertation addresses the undertheorized \nnotion that power not only asserts a disciplining and coercive force upon \nindividuals, but that, following Foucault, it has a ‘productive’ force, it produces \nsubjectivities. It is argued that the effectiveness of the discursive formation of citizenship \ndepends on its making sense to individuals, and its ability to hold out the possibility of \nmeeting the needs and desires of individuals. Previous work has not adequately examined \nthe broader process encompassing the promotion of citizenship, assistance with the \napplication, citizenship classes, and naturalization ceremonies. The social science \nliterature on citizenship has not paid sufficient attention to affects such as fidelity in the \nconstitution of citizens, specifically “good citizens.” Fidelity is demanded by state \ncitizenship and it overlaps with other discourses that are part of the lived experience of \nindividuals. The discourses and practices of citizenship overlap with schooling, with \ngraduation ceremonies, and with weddings. All of these practices, and the discourses \ninvolved, invoke fidelity: fidelity to the state and its institutions, fidelity to one’s school, \nand fidelity to one’s marriage partner. In sum, the attributes of a “good citizen,” and our \ndesire to possess the positively-defined elements, contribute to the functioning of the \nstate, the military, the workplace, the school, and the family; and to the production of \ngovernable subjects. The dissertation also discusses the overlooked everyday uses of the \nnotion of “citizen,” and the possibility of disenchantment with the acquisition of juridical \ncitizenship; and offers a critique of critics who are concerned with the “devaluing of \ncitizenship” and the lack of “sanctity” in the contemporary taking of the citizenship Oath.
Author: Luis F. B. Plascencia
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2273480648