Community, Immigrants and the Construction of Citizenship

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This research examines the ways in which immigrants to the United States and United Kingdom understand citizenship. Much of the theoretical debate over citizenship highlights two sets of issues: 1) the ways in which citizenship is understood and experienced as a result of the interplay between legal institutions and a feeling of belonging and membership in a political community, and 2) the ways in which ideas about citizenship may be changing in response to globalization. These debates suggest ideas about and the experiences of being a citizen are changing as a result of international migration. The research explores these debates through over 150 qualitative interviews and 36 focus groups with leaders and members of immigrant organizations in four US cities and two cities in the United Kingdom. The particular focus is on organizations serving Arab immigrants. The organizations will cover a range of social, cultural, and political activities, and respondents will be selected to ensure variation across gender, socio-economic status, and age. The research will examine the ways in which immigrants are incorporated into the cities and countries in which they currently live, how they understand citizenship, the connections they may continue to feel with the source country, and whether and how they reconcile feelings of belonging to communities in two countries. The research specifically asks how ideas related to citizenship affect political activism and whether conditions within specific places shape their identification as citizens of either the host or source country. The research will yield important theoretical and tangible advances. First, if migration is changing citizenship and the sense of belonging to a political community, then it is important to understand how they are changing and how the changes affect the lives of immigrants. In focusing on the people who negotiate changing ideas about citizenship on a daily basis, the research provides the basis for theoretical advances that are grounded in real experiences. This is particularly important in trying to understand the nature of citizenship and community in the context of globalization. Transnational migration show no signs of receding, so it is important for receiving societies to understand the ways in which immigrants understand the roles of community and citizenship. Recent events have demonstrated the importance of understanding why some groups feel marginalized or isolated within a society. Attending to the differing conceptualizations of citizenship and community may create a situation in which understanding between different groups can be fostered