Anthropology

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http://hdl.handle.net/10066/343

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Browsing Anthropology by Author "Coren, Freda"

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    “Aquí está mi corazón” Learning Race and Performing Citizenship: Narratives of Undocumented Mothers and a Non-Profit Organization
    (2017) Coren, Freda; Saleh, Zainab
    This last year has been filled with nativist and anti-immigrant sentiments that place immigrants, especially undocumented, non-white immigrants, in diametric opposition to the white, male, wealthy American citizen. This project explores the ways in which an East Coast city’s undocumented Mexican community performs citizenship and seeks belonging as racialized, “illegal” subjects. Furthermore, I investigate the ways in which a health and education non-profit fits into a larger discourse about biopower, control, citizenship, and belonging. Over the course of ten months, I conducted fieldwork at the summer camp and after-school program run by the non-profit Caminos de Fortaleza, which supports this largely undocumented Mexican and Latino population. Using Michel Foucault’s theory of biopower and state control, I demonstrate how Caminos de Fortaleza works within and outside of these power structures in order to shape the lives of those people it serves. In addition to months of observational fieldwork as a tutor with Caminos de Fortaleza, I also interviewed four undocumented mothers who utilize its services in order to explore the emotional and personal facet of biopolitical projects. Through these interviews, this project demonstrates the ways in which immigrants learn how to be American and how to be citizens. I pay particular attention to the ways in which racial logics and structures have shaped these women’s experiences in both Mexico and the United States, and the pervasive ways in which race is linked to citizenship and belonging in the United States. Ultimately, their experiences show how various actors and stakeholders deftly maneuver the malleable and permeable category of citizenship.