Breaking Into the Public Sphere: Temporality, Context, and Innovation in the Politicization of Latin American Immigrants

ABSTRACT Title of Document: BREAKING INTO THE PUBLIC SPHERE: TEMPORALITY, CONTEXT, AND INNOVATION IN THE POLITICIZATION OF LATIN AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS Guillermo R. Cantor, Doctor of Philosophy, 2008 Directed By: Prof. Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz, Department of Sociology This dissertation aims to improve our understanding of the political life of Latinos in the U.S., in specific local contexts and historical moments. To that end, I propose to reframe the understanding of politics and the political . Borrowing elements from political philosophy, I propose using the concept of politicization, which is primarily defined by the introduction of innovation in the public realm; the generation of consequences that affect not only those directly involved in a situation but others as well; and the intervention in a public domain that is not limited to state structures. To elaborate on this idea of politicization as well as to bring history, context, and in particular, temporality, to the center of this research, I look at two major events that crystallized the most critical landmarks in the recent political history of Latinos in the Washington D.C. area: the Mount Pleasant Riots of 1991 and “La Marcha” of 2006. In order to disentangle the process of politicization in each of the events analyzed, I examine the interplay of context (including demographic, political, and organizational features of the local Latino community), episodes of contention, attribution of opportunities and threats, social and organizational appropriation, and innovation. I then reconstruct these cases by inscribing them in their contexts and analyzing how, why, and when different consequential actions were performed. Both the Mount Pleasant riots and La Marcha involved the engagement of ordinary people in the Latino community in contentious public acts which led to the emergence of a transformed ethnically-centered political actor. I argue that this actor constitution was the result of the way in which ordinary people and various collective actors proceeded throughout the exceptional public performances, before, during, and after. My main argument is that the profile and structural location of leading organizations (e.g., dependency on government contracts, foundations’ grants, employers, or ordinary people) involved in the events had a decisive impact on the actions adopted by community leaders which, in turn, affected the direction of the political path that the Latino community undertook. BREAKING INTO THE PUBLIC SPHERE: TEMPORALITY, CONTEXT, AND INNOVATION IN THE POLITICIZATION OF LATIN AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS By Guillermo Ruben Cantor Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2008 Advisory Committee: Professor Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz, Chair Professor Sonalde Desai Professor Judith Freidenberg Professor Dae Young Kim Professor Reeve Vanneman © Copyright by Guillermo Ruben Cantor 2008 Dedication To the memory of my grandmother Ana Rejina Differding ii Acknowledgements The completion of this dissertation represents an extraordinary milestone not only in my professional development but also—and more importantly—in my life. My experience in the doctoral program has been literally and metaphorically an intense, at moments exciting and at moments frustrating, journey. When I started the program in 2003 I immediately realized that the challenges would be multiple: from adjusting to a new life, a new culture, and a way of working and thinking radically different from those I was used to, to embarking in a research project of frightening dimensions. I certainly believe that the latter would have been impossible to achieve without resolving the former. Fortunately, this journey is reaching its end, and looking back I can identify a considerable number of debts. Although the research process is to a great extent a solitary task, paradoxically it is also an enterprise impossible to develop without the collaboration of a number of people. I want to thank the professors of the University of Maryland’s department of sociology for pushing me to explore new universes. In particular, I want to express my gratitude to my dissertation advisor, Patricio Korzeniewicz, whose constant availability, openness, and encouragement for the development of my project have been crucial. I also want to thank the members of my dissertation committee, Sonalde Desai, Judith Freidenberg, Dae Young Kim and Reeve Vanneman, for their incisive reading and comments on my drafts. My dissertation would not have been possible without the generous contribution of time and information by the different informants who voluntarily participated in this iii project. I want to thank all and every one of them for their collaboration. In fact, the conversations I had with them constituted the most pleasant part of this research. I also want to express thanks to all those people who actively contributed to my intellectual development before coming to Maryland. I want to especially thank Nélida Perona, Cristina Díaz, Sonia Bengoechea and María de los Angeles Yannuzzi, for having trusted my capacity from my early years at the University of Rosario. Materially, my doctorate was partially possible thanks to a Fulbright grant. I am grateful to the Fulbright program and, in particular, to the Fulbright Commission in Argentina for having invested in my training. I made every effort to justify their support. On a personal level, I have had the enormous fortune to find in this journey the incredible support and affection of wonderful human beings such as Vivianne, Bettina, Nikolaos, Mariano, Dolores, Verónica, Rachel, and Omar. Thanks to them the early times in Maryland were more enjoyable. Maryland has also given me two wonderful and beloved friends whose presence made a huge difference in this experience: Andrés Dapuez and Laura Maccioni. The numerous dinners, asados , and interminable conversations I shared with them were precious. My fellow students in my cohort have played an important role in my initial adaptation to the doctorate. I have also had the fortune of coinciding in the program with a wonderfully generous person such as Melissa Scopilitti, to whom I owe my gratitude for her frequent aid with statistical issues. I cannot thank enough my family and friends in Argentina, all of whom, at a distance continued to provide me with all the affection and encouragement I needed to keep going. My parents, Eva Reinhold and Natalio Cantor, and my sisters, Valeria and iv Florencia, have been, are and will be objects of my love and admiration. I also need to express thanks to my dear friends Fabián, Sergio, Corina, Valeria, Tati and Lucio. Aside from being irreplaceable interlocutors and essential presences in my life, they have the wonderful capacity of bringing me back to earth. Finally, I would like to express all my gratitude to the two people who fill my everyday life with meaning: my wife Kim and my son Ulises. Kim’s love and devoted care, in both happy and difficult moments, were critical for the completion of this dissertation, as was her intellectual assistance. More importantly, Kim’s generosity and capacity for work are permanent lessons in my life. The arrival of Uli was a crucial incentive to finish this research. To him I owe the necessary discipline I was able to achieve in order to complete this project. Now that we survived this one, I am sure we are prepared to face together other big challenges down the road. v Table of Contents Dedication........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................iii Table of Contents............................................................................................................... vi List of Figures..................................................................................................................viii Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Background ....................................................................................................... 9 1.1. Political incorporation of Latin American immigrants into the US political system ......................................................................................................................................... 9 1.2. Political participation of Latinos............................................................................ 15 1.3. The “undocumented” status and its impact in politics........................................... 20 1.4. Expanding the lens to capture political activity: From participation to mobilization and organizing............................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 2: Theoretical tools.............................................................................................. 29 2.1. A re-conceptualization of immigrants’ “politicization” ........................................ 29 2.2. Making events the privileged site of explanation of immigrants’ “politicization” 36 2.3. Borrowing tools from the Contentious Politics and the Political Process Approaches ..................................................................................................................

Load more