University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Communication ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 7-1-2014 MEDIATED NARRATIVES ON CITIZENSHIP, IMMIGRATION, AND NATIONAL IDENTITY: THE CONSTRUCTION OF DREAMER IDENTITIES IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE SURROUNDING PRESIDENT OBAMA'S 2012 DEFERRED DEPORTATION ANNOUNCEMENT Marisa Garcia Rodriguez Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cj_etds Part of the Journalism Studies Commons Recommended Citation Garcia Rodriguez, Marisa. "MEDIATED NARRATIVES ON CITIZENSHIP, IMMIGRATION, AND NATIONAL IDENTITY: THE CONSTRUCTION OF DREAMER IDENTITIES IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE SURROUNDING PRESIDENT OBAMA'S 2012 DEFERRED DEPORTATION ANNOUNCEMENT." (2014). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cj_etds/52 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Marisa C. Garcia Rodriguez Candidate Communication & Journalism Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Ilia Rodríguez Nazario, Chairperson Jan Schuetz David Weiss Adriana Ramírez de Arellano Eleuterio Santiago-Díaz i MEDIATED NARRATIVES ON CITIZENSHIP, IMMIGRATION, AND NATIONAL IDENTITY: THE CONSTRUCTION OF DREAMER IDENTITIES IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE SURROUNDING PRESIDENT OBAMA’S 2012 DEFERRED DEPORTATION ANNOUNCEMENT by MARISA C. GARCIA RODRIGUEZ B.A., Theatre Arts, California State University Long Beach, 2000 M.A., Communication Studies, California State University Northridge, 2009 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Communication The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July, 2014 ii DEDICATION To my parents, Jorge and Irene R. Garcia, who provide me with the love and support that enables me to pursue my dreams. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who supported, encouraged, and challenged me throughout the completion of this project. First and foremost, I would like to thank my official cohort (Angela, Ashley, Chenoa, Dani, Kristen, Ricky, Sarah, Susan, and Vanessa), my fellow graduates (Art, Christopher B., Christopher R., Jaci, Jelena, Lex, Natasha, and Nick), and my GRC writing group (Sarah, Homer, and group facilitator Santhosh) for their support, commiseration and encouragement. Without the support and guidance of my committee, I would not have learned as much as I have throughout the dissertation process. First, I would like to thank Dr. Jan Schuetz for her support from coursework, to comps, and throughout the dissertation process. Without your theoretical knowledge and guidance, I would not have come to love theory in the way that I have in the past four years. Your knowledge has only been matched by the kindness and care you have extended to me over the course of my time at UNM. Second, I would like to thank Dr. David Weiss for his sharp eye for detail and encouragement to find the nuance in my analysis and language use. Thank you for agreeing to be a part of my committee on top of your duties to the department. Next, I would like to thank my two outside committee members: Dr. Eleuterio Santiago-Díaz and Dr. Adriana Ramírez de Arellano. A big thank you to Dr. Santiago- Díaz for graciously stepping in at a later stage of the project and sharing your expertise on Latina/os and race in the United States. Our discussion during the defense has given me much food for thought for upcoming projects and reminded me to foreground the question of race and ethnicity when examining the representation of Latina/os in the iv United States. To Dr. Ramírez de Arellano, your constant enthusiasm and support for my project has been invaluable during this process. Thank you also for sharing your phenomenal ability to connect concepts across disciplines and demonstrating the necessity of looking for the interconnected nature of information across law and culture. Your energy and vast knowledge have given me a new goal to achieve after graduate school; I want to one day inspire my students the way that you inspired me. Last, to Dr. Ilia Rodríguez, there are not enough words to express my gratitude for your patience, guidance, and generosity throughout my time at UNM. I appreciate all your time, encouragement, and also the room I had to discover my path. You are my model for being a strong mentor and advisor, both in the classroom and as I negotiated the complicated space of academia. Truly, I cannot put into words how much your mentorship has meant to me. Finally, I cannot leave out my family and friends for their unwavering support and love. To my best friend Tami, my Henderson family (Sammi, Ryan, Harrison, and Lucy), the Reuter-Dzarko household, the Hooley-Panagakis household, and the Anderssons, thank you for listening and providing me with places to escape. Last, thank you to my family: to the Graces (Laura, Dawn, and Simone) – thank you for your love, photos, good cheer, and positive thoughts; to Juan - for your humor (Fred says hello), understanding, and technical support; to my mom - for dropping everything to help when I needed you; and my dad - for listening, remembering, and sharing your experiences with me. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1 Significance of Research ..........................................................................................3 Young Immigrants and Immigration Policy: Historical Background ......................6 Chapter Outline ......................................................................................................10 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..............................................................11 Social Constructionism and Discourse ..................................................................11 Discursive Formations ...........................................................................................14 Identity .......................................................................................................15 National Identity ........................................................................................18 The Concept of Citizenship ...........................................................21 Nation and Nationalism .............................................................................26 U.S. National Identity and The American Dream ..........................30 CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................32 Immigration as a Discursive Field .........................................................................32 Mexican Immigration as a Focal Point ......................................................34 California’s Proposition 187 ..........................................................39 Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 ............................................................40 Mediated Discourses on Immigration ....................................................................44 Representation and Ideological Effects of Media ......................................44 Encoding/Decoding Model ............................................................48 Media Representation of National Identity ................................................54 Research on Media and Latina/o Immigration ...........................................60 Moral Panics ..............................................................................................63 CHAPTER 4: METHODS .................................................................................................71 Social Constructionism: Meaning Making, Discourse, and Power .......................71 Research Design and Procedures ...........................................................................73 Data Collection ..........................................................................................73 Sites of Study .................................................................................73 Data Sets. .......................................................................................75 Rationale for Research Design. ......................................................79 Research Questions and Definitions of Concepts ......................................80 Data Analysis .............................................................................................83 Frame Analysis ..............................................................................84 Narrative Analysis .........................................................................85 Thematic Analysis .........................................................................86 vi CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS ................................................................................................88 Constructions of Citizenship, Immigrant Identity, and National Identity in President Obama’s Speech .....................................................................................89 Citizenship: Redefining Citizenship Through Cultural Belonging. ...........90 Cultural Citizenship .......................................................................90 Legal Citizenship ...........................................................................91