Conjuring Immigrant Racial Threat Narratives: Using Citizenship Status to Shape Black-Latino Relations in U.S. Politics
- ISBN-10
- 1321225016
- ISBN-13
- 9781321225013
- Pages
- 177
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2014
Description
Political theorists agree that notions of citizenship are among the top concerns for the nation. Throughout United States history, multiple racial and ethnic groups have struggled for political membership and enfranchisement. This project concerns the plight of Blacks and Latinos for inclusion in the U.S. and analyzes how the contentious discourse around citizenship -- particularly the anti-immigration narrative -- has been used to strategically divide these two groups. Specifically, my project seeks to answer these questions: When issues of immigration come up in local and/or national discourse, how do African Americans perceive Latinos as a "racial threat" (i.e., an immigrant racial threat)? Furthermore, how do conservative leaders attempt to change the political attitudes and behavior of African Americans by simultaneously evoking frames of Latino illegality and black second-class citizenship? I will identify conditions under which African American public opinion and political attitudes can potentially be influenced by ideas of citizenship and belonging. To do this, I provide a theoretical account of race relations that uses social identity theories, racialization processes, and the racial order to explain how Blacks and Latinos come to understand their relationship with the state and to each other. I will rely on two approaches for this project. The first approach will be a quantitative analysis of a national survey, the 2008 Mobilization, Change and Political and Civic Engagement (MCPCE), which examines the impact and influence that media consumption, contact, and perceptions of immigrant racial threat have on African Americans' attitudes towards immigrants. The second is an analysis on a set of interviews collected in Los Angeles. These interviews were conducted with African American residents in various Los Angeles neighborhoods, to offer a broader perspective on the tensions or commonalities that exist between Blacks and Latinos, particularly when it comes to ideas of citizenship, belonging, and rights.
