UC Irvine UC Irvine Previously Published Works Title On Latin@s and the Immigration Debate Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/41t827ph Journal American Anthropologist, 116(1) ISSN 0002-7294 Authors Dávila, A Mullings, L Rosaldo, R et al. Publication Date 2014 DOI 10.1111/aman.12069 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST VITAL TOPICS FORUM On Latin@s and the Immigration Debate Arlene Davila,´ guest editor, and Leith Mullings, Renato Rosaldo, Luis F. B. Plascencia, Leo R. Chavez, Rocıo´ Magana,˜ Gilberto Rosas, Ana Aparicio, Lourdes Gutierrez´ Najera,´ Patricia Zavella, Alyshia Galvez,´ and Jonathan D. Rosa INTRODUCTION We hope to make amply clear that anthropologists have Arlene Davila´ Department of Anthropology, New York Univer- much to say about immigration and that our insights can sity, New York, NY 10003; [email protected] help expand the conversation and public debate about this topic. The forum includes a mix of younger and prominent If there has been one key “vital topic” in the United States anthropologists who I have asked to voice their insights on in recent years, it is undoubtedly the immigration debate, a variety of key topics. We start with Past President of the particularly in regard to U.S. Latin@s. While immigration American Anthropological Association Leith Mullings intro- is a global phenomenon, and U.S. immigrants hail from a ducing a new AAA public education initiative on the topic variety of destinations and nationalities, in the past decades of migration. This is followed by a piece by Renato Rosaldo the U.S. immigration debate has been largely relegated to a discussing some ways in which cultural analyses can be en- “Latino issue,” at the same time that the “undocumented” has riched by insights produced by anthropological research on become synonym with Latin@s and Mexicans. This is the immigration. We then turn to contributions by Luis Plascen- reasonwhythisVitalTopicsForumfocusesspecificallyonthe cia and Leo Chavez, who explore anthropological studies on immigration of Latin Americans to the United States, with changing conceptions of citizenship and nation and how they the hope of shedding light onto some of the many insights can best help advance our understanding of Latin Amer- that anthropologists have produced about this heated topic ican immigration into the United States. Both scrutinize while contributing to larger theorizing about the role that some of the gendered and racial dynamics involved in the race and racializing processes play in immigration debates debate, as evidenced in media representations of “anchor more generally and beyond the United States. babies” (Chavez) and in the experiences of immigrants seek- Indeed,fordecadesnowanthropologistshaveengagedin ing to regularize their citizenship status (Plascencia). These major theorizing around issues of globalization, citizenship, are followed by examinations of the material aspects of the national identity, and race. Anthropologists have produced contemporary border by Roc´ıo Magana,˜ who considers the rich ethnographies of the larger political-economic dynamics implicationsofthegrowthofmilitarizedborderenforcement fueling immigration as well as examined the everyday pro- and its stigmatizing effects, and by Gilberto Rosas, who looks cesses through which immigrants adapt and transform them- at how immigrants continue to defy the border despite its selves and society at large. Unfortunately, there continues heightened security. Essays on the growth of Latin@ subur- to be a huge gap between the many insights produced by ban communities and on the plight of indigenous Latin@s anthropologists and the current immigration debate. Thus, by Ana Aparicio and Lourdes Gutierrez´ Najera´ point to we ask: What explains the current standstill around immi- the diversity of experiences and backgrounds that are sys- gration reform, and why aren’t there any anthropologists at tematically omitted from most representations of Latin@s the table? We felt that producing a Vital Topics Forum on as an undifferentiated group. The final contributions by the issue would bring attention to some of the work that has Patricia Zavella, Alyshia Galvez,´ and Jonathan Rosa explore been produced in recent years while providing a resource for the racially loaded metaphors and tropes that color the immi- teaching, research, and social advocacy for anthropologists gration debate in the media, as well as, specifically, the rise and others who may wish to learn more about the historical and significance of immigrant social movements in expand- and contemporary immigration of Latin Americans into the ing debates around reproductive rights (Zavella), the rights United States. for the undocumented youth and their families (Galvez),´ and AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Vol. 116, No. 1, pp. 1–14, ISSN 0002-7294, online ISSN 1548-1433. C 2014 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/aman.12069 2 American Anthropologist • Vol. 116, No. 1 • March 2014 issues of linguistic equity (Rosa). All show the importance long history of human movement and the history of anthro- of sustained ethnographic engagement with communities for pological research on mobility, why people migrate, and exposing continuities and transformations within the debate the responses to migration across history and boundaries. as well as within pro-immigrant social movements. They then grappled with the challenge of how to convey the Readers should note that the number of anthropologists nuanced complexity of scholarly research in an informative, who are working on immigration is extensive, and I encour- accessible, and interesting manner. age browsing through the Combined References Cited for Drawing from research in its four fields, anthropology additional sources. Finally, it is important to note that this is uniquely situated to provide an impressive body of histor- Vital Topics Forum was inspired not only by our collective ical and comparative scholarship that challenges traditional frustration with the poverty of the current immigration de- ways of thinking about migration. For example, although bate but also by the activism of our anthropology colleagues scholars, media, and popular discourse tend to focus on working in the area of immigration. Most recently linguistic contemporary migrations and displacements, “humans have anthropologists played a key role in transforming the lan- always been on the move” (Frachetti 2011:196). At least guage around immigration, through direct advocacy to elim- since 150,000 BP, people, culture, language, commodities, inate the use of the word illegal by the mainstream press. But disease, flora, and fauna have been in circulation. This project more and more anthropologists are working alongside un- will call attention to the enduring patterns of human move- documented communities to bring about the development of ment, countering an “overly presentist orientation” (Sanjek inclusive immigration reforms and to create intraracial and 2003:15). It will also demonstrate how anthropologists con- ethnic alliances. Because contrary to what mainstream media struct models of migration and “interpret the lifeways and would have us believe, we are well aware that immigration relationships of past human societies using remnant mate- is not a Latin@-specific issue; instead, all racial majorities rial artifacts distributed across territories and through time” and all Americans are affected by the current standstill on (Sanjek 2003:15). Throughout its long history, human mi- immigration. In sum, our hope is that, just like the dream- gration has taken many forms, ranging from enforced trans- ers, who are coming out of the shadows as “undocumented, port, as in slavery and trafficking, to labor migrations and unafraid, and unapologetic” to demand justice and recogni- trade networks. Anthropologists have traced migrations and tion for themselves and for their families, anthropologists displacements that resulted from expansion, colonialism, too will be unafraid and unapologetic when addressing vital war, and violence, as well as those related to labor needs and topics in their work. the production of commodities. The anthropological record also provides many historical and contemporary examples of peaceful intermingling, positive interactions, intercul- MOVEMENT, MIGRATION, AND DISPLACEMENT: tural exchange, and cultural hybridity. Information about WHAT CAN ANTHROPOLOGISTS CONTRIBUTE TO the different forms, causes, and contexts of migration— THE PUBLIC DISCOURSE? which have produced vastly different consequences, impli- Leith Mullings Past President, American Anthropological cations, and possibilities—will significantly enhance public Association, Arlington, VA 22201, and Department of An- discussion. thropology, Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, NY 10016; Migrations and displacements in Africa, Europe, Asia, [email protected] Latin America, and the United States have frequently re- sulted in xenophobic, highly charged discourse and the rise Global migration and displacement are among the most of anti-immigrant political organizing. Anthropologists have pressing issues of our time and will continue to be for the the knowledge, and the responsibility, to address the core foreseeable future. The contributions to this Vital Topics symbols of race and culture that are at the heart of many re- Forum not only demonstrate the strength of anthropological sponses to migration and