Immigrants, Aliens and Americans: Mapping out the boundaries of belonging in a new immigrant gateway

Abstract

This study maps out the ‘boundaries of belonging’ in a small US city where large numbers of immigrants have radically transformed its demographics over the past decade. With somewhere between 12 000 and 15 000 unauthorized residents, municipal and community leaders in Danbury, Connecticut, estimate that the foreign born represent nearly 40 per cent of the city’s population, and as in other new immigrant gateways there are heated debates concerning ‘illegal immigration’. Qualitative data collected from participant observation, one-on-one interviews and texts point to the significance of three particular conceptual categories – Immigrants, Aliens and Americans. A cultural sociological analysis of the structures of meaning associated with these categories reveals how networks of individuals draw symbolic boundaries between US- and foreign-born city residents. Although they draw upon similar collective representations, some invoke formal and procedural criteria for inclusion or exclusion within the privileged (pure) categories of American or Immigrant (in other words, legal boundaries), whereas others embrace a more substantive, humanistic standard (moral boundaries). Most often, they call upon both. But even when similar criteria are invoked, the foreign born end up on different sides of the boundary for different people.