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Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century

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A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Stratification and Inequality".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 73530

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Pawan H. Dhingra

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Guest Editor

Department of American Studies, Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002, USA
Interests: education; race; immigration; inequality

Prof. Dr. Tanya Golash-Boza

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Guest Editor

Department of Sociology, The University of California, Merced, CA 95343, USA
Interests: race; immigration; deportation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With a raging pandemic, a cultural war over masks, the resurgence and spread of the Black Lives Matter movement, and demands for justice across the United States, we have also seen a rise of overt white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and nativism. Where do immigrants fit into this renewed conversation on systemic racism? Immigrants have been victims of historic and contemporary forms of racial discrimination and nativism, which in turn have increased their economic marginalization. At the same time, immigrants are accused of trafficking in anti-Black racism and not supporting mass movements for racial equality. Researchers have not given adequate attention to the connections between immigration and white supremacy. This special issue welcomes articles that incorporate an intersectional (of race, gender, sexuality, class, ability…) approach to the study of immigration and white supremacy, which immigrants are both victims of and accused of reproducing. Sample topics include but are not limited to, social and economic stratification; patterns of settler colonialism, nationalism, Orientalism, and anti-Blackness; inter-racial solidarities; institutions such as education, work and entrepreneurship, politics, criminal justice system, and the law; identity; LGBTQ movements; and refugees/asylees.

For consideration, please submit a 250 word abstract by September 6, 2020 that includes explicit reference to title, methods, theoretical contribution, research question(s), and findings (or anticipated findings).

Please submit your abstract and any questions to special issue guest editors, Professor Pawan Dhingra ([email protected]) and Professor Tanya Golash-Boza ([email protected]).

For those accepted for consideration, paper submissions will be due January 7th, 2021 for preliminary review, following the manuscript submission instructions below. Submissions for peer review will then be due March 15, 2021.

Prof. Dr. Pawan H. Dhingra
Prof. Dr. Tanya Golash-Boza
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

immigration
white supremacy
stratification
anti-Blackness
race

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 306 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Perverse Fluidity?—Differential Impacts of Family Resources on Educational and Occupational Attainment for Young Adults from White and Ethnic Minority Heritages in England

by Yaojun Li

Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(7), 291; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/socsci11070291 - 08 Jul 2022

Viewed by 2581

Abstract

This study examines the intergenerational transmission of family resources (class, education and income) on people’s educational and occupational attainment in their early career life. It asks whether parental resources remain effective or fall into insignificance. It also asks whether the resources operate in a similar way for the ethnic minorities as for the majority. Drawing on data from the Longitudinal Study of Young Persons in England, the study focuses on resource transmission in degree attainment, access to elite class position, unemployment rates, labour market earnings, and continuous income. In each aspect, we test not only the net effects of parental resources, but also the differential transmission between the majority and ethnic minority groups. The analysis shows strong effects of parental resources on educational and occupational attainment for whites but rather weak effects for the ethnic minorities. Ethnic minority children tend to grow up in poor families, yet even those whose parents manage to achieve socio-economic parity with whites do not enjoy similar benefits. Reducing inequality in family socio-economic conditions and inequality in labour market opportunities is key to achieving social justice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century)

25 pages, 458 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Double Consciousness in the 21st Century: Du Boisian Theory and the Problem of Racialized Legal Status

by Tiffany Joseph and Tanya Golash-Boza

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(9), 345; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/socsci10090345 - 16 Sep 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 21960

Abstract

In W.E.B. Du Bois’ Souls of Black Folk, he argued that the problem of the 20th century in the United States was the problem of the color line. Given that de facto and explicit racial discrimination persist, anti-immigrant rhetoric is intensifying, and legal status has become more salient, we argue Du Boisian theory remains relevant for understanding social and political cleavages in the 21st century United States. The intersection of race, ethnicity, and legal status or “racialized legal status” represents a new variation of Du Bois’ “color line,” due to how these statuses generate cumulative disadvantages and exclusion for citizens and immigrants of color, particularly the undocumented. We begin with a review of Du Bois’ double consciousness theory, highlighting the marginalization of African Americans. Next, we apply double consciousness to the 21st century U.S. context to empirically demonstrate parallels between 20th century African Americans and the marginalization faced today by people of color. We close with a discussion about how double consciousness enhances our understanding of citizenship and has also generated agency for people of color fighting for socio-political inclusion in the contemporary United States. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century)

22 pages, 384 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Immigrant Health Inequities: Exposing Diversions and White Supremacy

by San Juanita García, Taylor Trummel, Monica Cornejo, Katherine Maldonado, Ana Ojeda, Humberto Flores and Bruce G. Link

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(9), 341; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/socsci10090341 - 13 Sep 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3666

Abstract

Diversions occur when research disregards the inequality-generating actions of advantaged groups and instead focuses attention on the actions and behaviors of disadvantaged groups. We incorporate important insights from COVID-19 to illustrate historical and contemporary examples of diversions. This paper highlights US immigrant health inequities—a burgeoning subfield within the broader health inequalities canon—to explore: (1) if and how diversions appear in immigrant health studies; (2) how often white supremacy and intersectionality are explicitly named in grants, publicly available datasets, and published research. The data derive from: NIH R01 grants (17), publicly available datasets that focus on immigrant health (7), and research published in three health journals (14). Using a qualitative content analysis approach, we analyzed these data as evidence concerning the knowledge production cycle, and investigate whether: (a) the role of advantaged groups in generating inequalities is explicitly mentioned; (b) disadvantaged groups are asked about discriminatory actions perpetuated by advantaged groups; (c) health inequalities are placed on the conditions of disadvantaged groups; (d) if white supremacy and intersectionality are explicitly mentioned in grants, publicly available datasets, and research articles. The findings demonstrate the prevalence of diversions in immigrant health research, given an overemphasis on health behaviors and cultural explanations towards explaining immigrant health inequities. There was no mention of white supremacy across the knowledge production cycle. Intersectionality was mentioned once in a research article. We argue that understanding white supremacy’s role in the knowledge production cycle illuminates how diversions occur and prevail. We provide suggestions on moving away from diversionary research, toward adopting an intersectional approach of the study of immigrant health inequities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century)

20 pages, 349 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

“Divide, Divert, & Conquer” Deconstructing the Presidential Framing of White Supremacy in the COVID-19 Era

by Vivian Louie and Anahí Viladrich

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(8), 280; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/socsci10080280 - 21 Jul 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 6181

Abstract

Based on the analysis of President Donald J. Trump’s social media, along with excerpts from his speeches and press releases, this study sheds light on the framing of white supremacy during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Our findings reveal that the triad of divide, divert, and conquer was crucial to Trump’s communications strategy. We argue that racist nativism—or racialized national threats to American security—is key to comprehending the external divisiveness in this strategy. When Trump bitterly cast China as the cause of America’s pandemic fallout and Mexico as the source of other key American problems (i.e., crime and low-paid jobs for U.S.-born Americans), he sowed clear racialized divisions between the United States (U.S.). and these two nations. We further argue that nativist racism—or the framing of descendants from those nations as incapable of ever being American—is key to comprehending the internal divisiveness in the former President’s pandemic rhetoric. Trump’s framing of China and Mexico as enemies of America further found its culprits in Asian and Latino Americans who were portrayed as COVID-19 carriers. Trump’s narrative was ultimately geared to diverting attention from his administration’s mishandling of COVID-19, the dismal structural conditions faced by detained and undocumented Latinos, and the anti-Asian bias faced by some of his Asian American constituents. In the conclusions, this article makes a call for countering white supremacy by developing comparative approaches that pay more attention to how different racisms play out for different groups. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century)

19 pages, 349 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Shades of Belonging: The Intersection of Race and Religion in Utah Immigrants’ Social Integration

by Jane Lilly Lopez, Genevra Munoa, Catalina Valdez and Nadia Terron Ayala

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(7), 246; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/socsci10070246 - 26 Jun 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4180

Abstract

Utah, USA, a state with a unique history of immigration and a distinctive religious context, provides a useful setting in which to study the intersection of racism and religious participation with immigrant integration. Utah is one of the Whitest states in the United States, with 4 of every 5 residents identifying as non-Hispanic White. It is also home to the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) which, until 1978, explicitly imposed race-based exclusions that prohibited or strictly limited Black members’ participation in church leadership, rituals, and ordinances. The state’s cultural, social, and religious history has contributed to widespread beliefs among modern Utah residents of Whites’ racial supremacy in contexts both mundane and divine. Much of Utah’s population growth since 1960, especially among non-White racial and ethnic groups, can be attributed to immigrants, who today compose nearly 10 percent of the state’s population. Given Utah’s religious, social, and cultural relationship to race, it is an ideal case to study the following question: how do race, religion, and culture shape integration among immigrants? Utilizing interviews with 70 immigrants who have lived in Utah for an average of 13 years, we find that both race and LDS Church membership influence immigrants’ social integration, creating a hierarchy of belonging among immigrants in Utah––with White LDS immigrants reporting the highest levels of integration and non-White, non-LDS immigrants reporting the lowest levels of integration. These findings suggest the power of cultural narratives––beyond explicit institutional policy and practice––in perpetuating racial inequality in society. Thus, efforts to increase integration and belonging among immigrants must not only include work to dismantle legal and structural inequalities but also efforts to actively change the cultural narratives associated with them. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century)

19 pages, 375 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Diversity as Immigration Governmentality: Insights from France

by Milena Doytcheva

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(7), 237; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/socsci10070237 - 22 Jun 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3468

Abstract

This article aims to examine the ambiguous connections between immigration, diversity politics, and white supremacy in twenty-first century France by considering them both theoretically and empirically. It offers to elucidate the ways in which the recent growth and expansion of the diversity framework in Europe and France have gone hand in hand with the unfolding of particularly repressive migration policies, hostility towards migrants, and outright institutional racism. Drawing on qualitative longitudinal data on corporate diversity policies, based on semi-structured interviews (n = 86), the article also relies on secondary data analysis from other policy domains (migration, education, urban development), favoring a globally comparative lens. First, I engage with some major trends of the recent reinvention of diversity at the EU level, underscoring the ambiguous effects of Europeanizing antiracism and nondiscrimination in a reverse sequence; second, I critically revisit the ways in which this European reinvention, combined with the legal universalization of equal opportunity, has given rise to the articulation of “white diversity” conceptions; then I explore their even more problematic nexus with governing migration. Finally, I call for a critical scrutiny of how universalized and thoroughly individualized notions of diversification may emerge as instrumental in upholding hegemonic whiteness, in the fields of race relations as well as international migration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century)

17 pages, 633 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Loving Couples and Families:” Assimilation as Honorary Whiteness and the Making of the Vietnamese Refugee Family

by Linh Thủy Nguyễn

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(6), 209; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/socsci10060209 - 02 Jun 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5275

Abstract

Integration studies of Vietnamese refugees and their children begin with the problem of assimilation based on cultural and racial difference and ultimately lead these groups to achieve upward mobility against great odds. While scholars have offered alternatives to linear models of assimilation which assume a prescribed path to determine when migrants become integrated, the ideologies and norms which underlie the so-called problem of assimilation remain largely unexamined. Building from a feminist and Foucauldian analysis of power, this article examines state-sponsored knowledge production, such as semi-annual government surveys of Vietnamese refugees as representations which reproduce and reinforce logics of heteronormativity and white supremacy. I contextualize the production of these social science surveys as legibility projects in the geopolitical context of international (Cold War) and domestic (state attempts to dismantle black power movements through civil rights) maintenance of white supremacy. By examining self-sufficiency surveys of Vietnamese refugees conducted upon arrival to the US from the 1970s–1980s and 1990s studies of the second generation, I argue that the family is an instrumental yet overlooked dimension of the racialization of Vietnamese as new immigrants which is rooted in heteronormative, Orientalist, and anti-black notions of family. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century)

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20 pages, 274 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Becoming White in a White Supremacist State: The Public and Psychological Wages of Whiteness for Undocumented 1.5-Generation Brazilians

by Kara Cebulko

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(5), 184; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/socsci10050184 - 20 May 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4115

Abstract

This study draws on in-depth and longitudinal interviews with twenty-nine 1.5-generation Brazilian immigrants, all of whom can pass as white and experienced illegality in young adulthood. I argue that they benefit from what W.E.B. Du Bois calls “the public and psychological wages of whiteness”. That is, white and white-passing, undocumented 1.5-generation Brazilian men and women can largely navigate public space without being stopped, questioned, arrested, detained and/or deported. Additionally, they benefit psychologically—as they gain confidence due to perceived whiteness, even as their immigration status would render them vulnerable to exploitation in the labor market and deportation. These public and psychological wages of whiteness can facilitate social and material gains. I argue that there are three mechanisms by which they experience the wages of whiteness. First, whiteness brings assumed innocence. Second, white racial solidarity with other whites facilitates opportunities and protection. Third, some 1.5-generation Brazilians actively construct whiteness to accrue the public and psychological wages. These findings challenge the master status perspective of illegality and underscore the importance of an intersectional framework for understanding immigrants’ varied experiences with illegality, bringing to light the quotidian, gendered practices and identities that sustain the structures of white supremacy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century)

19 pages, 406 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Asian Americans’ Indifference to Black Lives Matter: The Role of Nativity, Belonging and Acknowledgment of Anti-Black Racism

by Aggie J. Yellow Horse, Karen Kuo, Eleanor K. Seaton and Edward D. Vargas

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(5), 168; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/socsci10050168 - 12 May 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 14027

Abstract

This paper assesses how ongoing historical racism and nativism as embedded within U.S. culture requires new and important dialogues about the omnipresence of White supremacy and its interconnected mechanisms that divide communities along the lines of race and perceived in-group status. To assess the role of immigration as it is understood through paradigms of White supremacy and systemic racism, the current study examines individual-level predictors of indifference to the BLM movement based on nativity status among Asian Americans—a racialized pan-ethnic group that is comprised of predominantly foreign-born members. Using the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey, one of the few nationally representative surveys that include detailed information about the Black Lives Matter movement, our study includes 1371 Asian immigrants (i.e., foreign-born Asian Americans) and 1635 U.S.-born Asian Americans. Results demonstrate that reporting indifference to the BLM movement differ by nativity such that foreign-born Asian Americans were significantly more likely to report indifference to the BLM movement compared to their U.S.-born Asian American counterparts. However, the impact of nativity disappears once we account for sense of belonging and acknowledgement of anti-Black racism. The sense of belonging was significant in predicting indifference to the BLM movement among U.S.-born Asian Americans only. The findings contribute to our understanding of racial sense making for Asian Americans as well as an understanding of how White supremacy translates to anti-Black racism through multiple and interconnected mechanisms for the maintenance of White supremacy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century)

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21 pages, 308 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Interlocking Processes Constraining the Struggle for Sanctuary in the Trump Era: The Case of La Puente, CA

by Gilda L. Ochoa

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(5), 155; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/socsci10050155 - 28 Apr 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3337

Abstract

By 10 January 2017, activists in the predominately Latina/o working class city of La Puente, California had lobbied the council to declare the city a sanctuary supporting immigrants, people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. The same community members urged the school district to declare itself a sanctuary. While community members rejoiced in pushing elected officials to pass these inclusive resolutions, there were multiple roadblocks reducing the potential for more substantive change. Drawing on city council and school board meetings, resolutions and my own involvement in this sanctuary struggle, I focus on a continuum of three overlapping and interlocking manifestations of white supremacist heteronormative patriarchy: neoliberal diversity discourses, institutionalized policies, and a re-emergence of high-profiled white supremacist activities. Together, these dynamics minimized, contained and absorbed community activism and possibilities of change. They reinforced the status quo by maintaining limits on who belongs and sustaining intersecting hierarchies of race, immigration status, gender, and sexuality. This extended case adds to the scant scholarship on the current sanctuary struggles, including among immigration scholars. It also illustrates how the state co-opts and marginalizes movement language, ideas, and people, providing a cautionary tale about the forces that restrict more transformative change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immigration and White Supremacy in the 21st Century)

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