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Threatening Immigrants: Cultural Depictions of Undocumented Mexican Immigrants in Contemporary US America

Schaab, Katharine
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1433459712

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies.
This project analyzes how contemporary US cultural and legislative texts shape US society’s impression of undocumented (im)migrants and whether they fit socially constructed definitions of what it means to “be American” or part of the US national imaginary. I argue that (im)migrant-themed cultural texts, alongside legal policies, participate in racial formation projects that use racial logic to implicitly mark (im)migrants as outsiders while actively employing ideologies rooted in gender, economics, and nationality to rationalize (im)migrants’ exclusion or inclusion from the US nation-state. I examine the tactics anti- and pro-(im)migrant camps utilize in suppressing the role of race—particularly the rhetorical strategies that focus on class, nation, and gender as rationale for (im)migrants’ inclusion or exclusion—in order to expose the similar strategies governing contemporary US (im)migration thought and practice. This framework challenges dichotomous thinking and instead focuses on gray areas. Through close readings of political and cultural texts focused on undocumented (im)migration (including documentaries, narrative fiction, and photography), this project homes in on the gray areas between seemingly pro- and anti-(im)migrant discourses. I contend (im)migration-themed political and popular rhetoric frequently selects a specific identity marker (e.g. gender or socio-economic status—never race) and depicts it as the single factor influencing US border monitoring and defense. In order to demonstrate this argument, I place legal texts in conversation with cultural texts. Taken together, political and cultural texts show the emergent strategies for discussing undocumented (im)migration without directly discussing race or racial inequalities, as the texts deny or have purportedly resolved racial inequalities.
Jolie Sheffer, PhD (Advisor)
Susana Peña, PhD (Committee Member)
Rebecca Kinney, PhD (Committee Member)
Lisa Hanasono, PhD (Committee Member)
219 p.
American Studies; Ethnic Studies; Gender Studies; Womens Studies
immigration; migration; immigrant; migrant; undocumented; gender; sexuality; class; economics; cultural racism; race; nation; nationalism; xenophobia; security; localism; culture; immigration policy; discursive analysis; visual analysis; textual analysis

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Schaab, K. (2015). Threatening Immigrants: Cultural Depictions of Undocumented Mexican Immigrants in Contemporary US America [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1433459712

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Schaab, Katharine. Threatening Immigrants: Cultural Depictions of Undocumented Mexican Immigrants in Contemporary US America. 2015. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1433459712.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Schaab, Katharine. "Threatening Immigrants: Cultural Depictions of Undocumented Mexican Immigrants in Contemporary US America." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1433459712

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1433459712
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© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.