Abstract
How do we conceptualize and understand immigrants’ membership in the countries where they live? Political and legal theories of citizenship frequently conceptualize membership as legal status, rights, participation and belonging. Sociologists and anthropologists theorize social and cultural boundary-drawing processes. In this talk, the speaker advances a claims-making approach, drawing on how immigrant-origin residents lay claim to membership in the United States. Data from interviews with Mexican, Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant parents and their US-born children show how being a good US citizen is not exactly the same as being American. Citizenship status matters, especially categorical inclusion of birthright citizenship. However, many other markers of membership are at play, from race and culture, to economic contributions, moral behavior and being good parents. The interplay of attributes, values and behaviors allows some legal non-citizens to lay claim to membership. National membership is thus not simply about categorical placement inside or outside a boundary of ‘citizen’ or ‘American.’ Rather, it can be felt as partial and gradient, contested, and positioned closer or further from proto-typical ideals. To invite discussion, the speaker will situate the US case in a broader set of immigrant-receiving societies.

About the Speaker

Professor Irene Bloemraad is a leading sociologist of immigration and migration studies and currently serves as the President’s Excellence Chair in Global Migration at the University of British Columbia. She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University and previously held the 1951 Chair in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, where she founded the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative. Her research focuses on citizenship, multiculturalism, and immigrant political participation in Western democracies, particularly comparing the United States and Canada. Prof Irene Bloemraad is the author of influential works such as Becoming a Citizen and has contributed to national policy discussions through service on U.S. National Academies of Sciences committees.

About the Moderator

Dr Leong Chan-Hoong is a Senior Fellow & Head, Social Cohesion Research Programme at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is a fellow and board member of the International Academy for Intercultural Research and the World Association for Public Opinion Research Asia Pacific Council. He serves on the International Advisory Board at the Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research, in Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. His research focuses on immigration, national narratives, inter-racial relations, and human-environment interactions.