Description
Book SynopsisThe construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico borderwhether to build it or nothas become a hot-button issuein contemporary America.A recentimpasse over funding a wall caused the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, sharpening partisan divisions across the nation. In the Arizona borderlands, groups of predominantly white American citizens have been mobilizing for decadessome help undocumented immigrants bypass governmentaldetection, while others help law enforcement agents to apprehend immigrants. Activists on both the left and the right mobilize without an immediate personal connection to the issue at hand, many doubtingthat their actions can bring about the long-term change they desire. Why, then, do they engage in immigration and border politics so passionately?Divided by the Walloffers a one-of-a-kind comparative study of progressive pro-immigrant activists and their conservative immigration-restrictionist opponents. Using twenty months of ethnographic research with five grassroots organizations,Emine Fidan Elcioglu shows how immigration politics has become a substitute for struggles around class inequality among white Americans. She demonstrates how activists mobilizednot only to change the rules of immigrationbut also to experience a change in themselves. Elcioglu finds that the variation in social class and intersectional identity across the two sides mappedonto disparate concerns about state power. As activists strategizedways to transform the scope of the state's power, they also triedto carve out self-transformative roles for themselves. Provocative and even-handed,Divided by the Wallchallenges our understanding of immigration politics in times of growing inequality and insecurity.
Trade Review"This is an accessible book for anyone interested in immigration politics and social movements, stratification and identity politics. Elcioglu offers an important contribution to social movements and contentious politics studies by delving into the life stories and understanding both sides of the immigration debate through their own lens."
* Ethnic and Racial Studies *
"
Divided by the Wall is a must-read for scholars of political movements because of its vivid, thoughtful depiction of this phenomenon at the US-Mexico border." * Social Forces *
"The analytical perspective and remarkable findings of Divided by the Wall open a dialogue among political sociologists who study social movements and political mobilization."
* Mobilization *
"Divided by the Wall has clearly succeeded in provoking important questions and opening new lines of investigation. Elcioglu sets a high standard for comparative ethnography of dueling social movements. The text is accessibly written and would be suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses on social movements, immigration, and ethnography. Students would likely find their engagement with the text to be a highlight of the term."
* International Journal of Comparative Sociology *
"An evocative portrait. . . .
Divided by the Wall’s sharp insights into the overlapping rationales of white immigration activists make it an urgent and fresh analysis of a much-examined place." * New Mexico Historical Review *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: State Effects and the Politics
of Immigration in Arizona
PART I USING IMMIGRATION POLITICS TO REMAKE ONESELF
1. Arizona and the Making of an Ambiguous Border
2. Being Progressive, but Privileged
3. Being White, but Working Class
PART II CONTENDING WITH CHALLENGES FROM THE OTHER SIDE
4. The “Other” Border Crosser: How Pro-immigrant Activists Grapple with the Topic
of Cartels
5. “We Work with Border Patrol”: How Restrictionists Struggle with the Topic
of Racism
PART III PRACTICING SYMBOLIC POLITICS
6. Weakening the State: The Pro-immigrant Strategy
7. Strengthening the State: The Restrictionist Strategy
Conclusion: Going beyond the Wall
Appendix 1: Methods
Appendix 2: Interviewees
Notes
References
Index
