Papers by Tanya Golash-Boza
The implementation of restrictive immigration laws in 1997 in the United States has led to the de... more The implementation of restrictive immigration laws in 1997 in the United States has led to the deportation of hundreds of thousands of legal permanent residents— denizens who had made the United States their home. Mass deportations of denizens have given renewed importance to territorial belonging and legal citizenship for theories of citizenship, a relatively neglected area of scholarship in this field. This article draws from interviews with 30 deported Jamaicans who were once legal permanent residents of the United States to argue that denizens often feel " like citizens " based on their family and community ties to the United States, yet that their allegiance and sense of belonging is primarily to their family and community—not to the state. In this sense, there is a disconnect between the law—which privileges legal citizenship—and the daily lives of denizens—in which they can experience a profound sense of belonging in their communities. I met Victor in a barbershop near downtown Kingston. He walked, talked, and dressed like a young man from Brooklyn. Victor told me, with a heavy Brooklyn accent, " I'm from Brooklyn. I grew up in Brooklyn all my life. " Although Victor considers himself to be from Brooklyn, he was born in Jamaica, in a hospital not too far from where we were sitting. When Victor was 4 years old, he and his mother took a plane from Kingston, Jamaica, to New York City.
2016. “Peru” The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism, First Edition.... more 2016. “Peru” The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism, First Edition. Edited by y John Stone, Rutledge M. Dennis, Polly S. Rizova, Anthony D. Smith, and Xiaoshuo Hou.
This article contests the contention that sociology lacks a sound theoretical approach to the stu... more This article contests the contention that sociology lacks a sound theoretical approach to the study of race and racism, instead arguing that a comprehensive and critical sociological theory of race and racism exists. This article outlines this theory of race and racism, drawing from the work of key scholars in and around the field. This consideration of the state of race theory in sociology leads to four contentions regarding what a critical and comprehensive theory of race and racism should do: 1) bring race and racism together into the same analytical framework; 2) articulate the connections between racist ideologies and racist structures; 3) lead us towards the elimination of racial oppression; and 4) include an intersectional analysis.
Mass deportation has global implications and is intimately tied to the worldwide movement of peop... more Mass deportation has global implications and is intimately tied to the worldwide movement of people and goods. In short, it is not simply a domestic policy issue. The larger economic picture—especially in the countries to which the United States sends deportees—has shaped the development of mass deportation. Many scholars have found that globalization and economic restructuring have produced global migration. In this book, I argue that the current phase of mass deportations is produced by neoliberal reforms and the intensification of economic inequality. I further contend that deportation maintains a system of global apartheid.
To make this argument, I draw from the narratives of deportees, and I place their stories and experiences in the wider context of global capitalism, neoliberalism, and racialized social control. Through their life histories, I identify the elements of the current era of global capitalism that have rendered mass deportation possible:
• Global inequality, which leads migrants to travel across borders in search of better opportunities than that which their country of birth provides
• Systems of border control and immigration policing, which make international migration difficult and render working-class and poor international migrants vulnerable
• Economic and social changes in the United States in the 1980s that led to changes in the labor market, which have greatly reduced the availability of low-skill jobs that pay a living wage and a concomitant increase in temporary and low-paying jobs in the United States that immigrants are qualified to do
• The rise in unemployment in the context of the Great Recession
• A system of racialized social control that focuses on black and Latino men and ensures that those migrants who eschew low-wage jobs are arrested and deported if they are noncitizens
The above list includes factors that have made mass deportation possible from the U.S. side. Additionally, I will explain the role that deportees play in global capitalism once they are deported. Countries that receive deportees have found rhetorical and practical uses for their returning citizens: They serve as scapegoats or bilingual low-wage workers in their countries of origin.
Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies, 2010
In 2006, the Peruvian government passed a law that made racial discrimination a crime punishable ... more In 2006, the Peruvian government passed a law that made racial discrimination a crime punishable by incarceration. This law, part of a multicultural reform in Peru, can be seen as an effective recognition of the reality of racism in Peruvian society. Such recognition, however, contrasts with official depictions of Peru as a country without racism, and of Peruvians as people who deny the existence of racism in their society. Based on semi-structured interviews conducted in Lima, this note explores everyday discourses on this ...
The number of people being removed from the USA on an annual basis is far higher than ever before... more The number of people being removed from the USA on an annual basis is far higher than ever before. The increases in removals since the passage of the 1996 laws have had a disproportionate impact on Mexican and Central American male immigrants. Moreover, the changes made to the laws in 1996 were draconian insofar as they removed judicial discretion in certain removal cases, and the laws were applied retroactively. The raced and
gendered disparities in immigration law enforcement are one more instance of institutionalized racism in the USA insofar as these laws primarily harm black and Latino families.
This article reviews how US deportations ballooned between 1997 and 2012, and underscores how the... more This article reviews how US deportations ballooned between 1997 and 2012, and underscores how these deportations disproportionately targeted Latino working class men. Building on Mae Ngai's (2004) concept of racial removal, we describe this recent mass deportation as a gendered racial removal program. Drawing from secondary sources, surveys conducted in Mexico, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published statistics, and interviews with deportees conducted by the first author in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Jamaica, we argue that: (1) deportations have taken on a new course in the aftermath of 9/11 and in the wake of the global economic crisisinvolving a shift towards interior enforcement; (2) deportation has become a gendered and racial removal project of the state; and (3) deportations will have lasting consequences with gendered and raced effects here in the United States. We begin by examining the mechanisms of the new deportation regime, showing how it functions, and then examine the legislation and administrative decisions that make it possible. Next, we show the concentration of deportations by nation and gender. Finally, we discuss the causes of this gendered racial removal program, which include the male joblessness crisis since the Great Recession, the War on Terror, and the continued criminalization of Black and Latino men by police authorities.
In this essay, I consider what a sociology without borders would look like through an exploration... more In this essay, I consider what a sociology without borders would look like through an exploration of two questions: 1) How can sociology be mobilized to make the world a better place? and 2) What does a sociology of human rights look like? To answer these questions, I take the reader through a discussion of the history of Sociologists without Borders, the influence of Professor Judith Blau, and my own excursions into the sociology of human rights in the United States and abroad.
Once forcibly returned to their countries of citizenship, how and why do deportees engage in tran... more Once forcibly returned to their countries of citizenship, how and why do deportees engage in transnational relationships? Through analyses of 37 interviews with Jamaican deportees, I approach the question of why deportees engage in transnational practices and reveal that deportees use transnational ties as coping strategies to deal with financial and emotional hardship. This reliance on transnational ties, however, has two consequences: (1) male deportees who rely on transnational strategies to survive face a gendered stigma because they must relinquish the provider role and become dependants; and (2) the transnational coping strategies serve as a reminder of the shame, isolation and alienation that deportees experience because of their deportation. This consideration of the consequences of transnational relationships sheds light on why some migrants are transnational and others are not.
This article reviews how US deportations ballooned between 1997 and 2012, and underscores how the... more This article reviews how US deportations ballooned between 1997 and 2012, and underscores how these deportations disproportionately targeted Latino working class men. Building on Mae Ngai's (2004) concept of racial removal, we describe this recent mass deportation as a gendered racial removal program. Drawing from secondary sources, surveys conducted in Mexico, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published statistics, and interviews with deportees conducted by the first author in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Jamaica, we argue that: (1) deportations have taken on a new course in the aftermath of 9/11 and in the wake of the global economic crisisinvolving a shift towards interior enforcement; (2) deportation has become a gendered and racial removal project of the state; and (3) deportations will have lasting consequences with gendered and raced effects here in the United States. We begin by examining the mechanisms of the new deportation regime, showing how it functions, and then examine the legislation and administrative decisions that make it possible. Next, we show the concentration of deportations by nation and gender. Finally, we discuss the causes of this gendered racial removal program, which include the male joblessness crisis since the Great Recession, the War on Terror, and the continued criminalization of Black and Latino men by police authorities.
Since the late 1980s, there has been an explosion in diaspora studies across the globe, giving ri... more Since the late 1980s, there has been an explosion in diaspora studies across the globe, giving rise to debates within this nascent field of inquiry (Brubaker 2005). Diaspora scholars are struggling to address the complicated questions of how to define the diaspora, how to understand the diasporic experience, and whether or not we can speak about such an experience in any unifying sense.
A critical debate among immigrant rights advocates is whether the battle for immigrants' rights s... more A critical debate among immigrant rights advocates is whether the battle for immigrants' rights should invoke human rights or civil rights. The advantage to the civil rights option is that these rights are legally viable in US courts. However, there are severe limits to this approach.
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Papers by Tanya Golash-Boza
To make this argument, I draw from the narratives of deportees, and I place their stories and experiences in the wider context of global capitalism, neoliberalism, and racialized social control. Through their life histories, I identify the elements of the current era of global capitalism that have rendered mass deportation possible:
• Global inequality, which leads migrants to travel across borders in search of better opportunities than that which their country of birth provides
• Systems of border control and immigration policing, which make international migration difficult and render working-class and poor international migrants vulnerable
• Economic and social changes in the United States in the 1980s that led to changes in the labor market, which have greatly reduced the availability of low-skill jobs that pay a living wage and a concomitant increase in temporary and low-paying jobs in the United States that immigrants are qualified to do
• The rise in unemployment in the context of the Great Recession
• A system of racialized social control that focuses on black and Latino men and ensures that those migrants who eschew low-wage jobs are arrested and deported if they are noncitizens
The above list includes factors that have made mass deportation possible from the U.S. side. Additionally, I will explain the role that deportees play in global capitalism once they are deported. Countries that receive deportees have found rhetorical and practical uses for their returning citizens: They serve as scapegoats or bilingual low-wage workers in their countries of origin.
gendered disparities in immigration law enforcement are one more instance of institutionalized racism in the USA insofar as these laws primarily harm black and Latino families.
To make this argument, I draw from the narratives of deportees, and I place their stories and experiences in the wider context of global capitalism, neoliberalism, and racialized social control. Through their life histories, I identify the elements of the current era of global capitalism that have rendered mass deportation possible:
• Global inequality, which leads migrants to travel across borders in search of better opportunities than that which their country of birth provides
• Systems of border control and immigration policing, which make international migration difficult and render working-class and poor international migrants vulnerable
• Economic and social changes in the United States in the 1980s that led to changes in the labor market, which have greatly reduced the availability of low-skill jobs that pay a living wage and a concomitant increase in temporary and low-paying jobs in the United States that immigrants are qualified to do
• The rise in unemployment in the context of the Great Recession
• A system of racialized social control that focuses on black and Latino men and ensures that those migrants who eschew low-wage jobs are arrested and deported if they are noncitizens
The above list includes factors that have made mass deportation possible from the U.S. side. Additionally, I will explain the role that deportees play in global capitalism once they are deported. Countries that receive deportees have found rhetorical and practical uses for their returning citizens: They serve as scapegoats or bilingual low-wage workers in their countries of origin.
gendered disparities in immigration law enforcement are one more instance of institutionalized racism in the USA insofar as these laws primarily harm black and Latino families.