Impossible Subjects by Mae M. Ngai
Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America
A legal and historical study that traces how U.S. immigration laws and policies from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century produced the category of the “illegal” or stateless migrant by racializing and excluding particular groups—especially Chinese, Filipino, Mexican, and other nonwhite laborers—and by reconciling labor needs with a politics of exclusion. Using court cases, legislation, administrative practices, and political debates, it shows how doctrines of sovereignty, citizenship, and race were mutually constituted as the state created new categories of noncitizen status, deportation regimes, and restrictions on naturalization. The book argues that these “impossible subjects,” legally marginalized yet economically indispensable, reveal the contradictions of American liberalism and have shaped enduring patterns of exclusion and governance in the United States.
- Published
- 2004
- Nationality
- American
- Length
- Unknown
- Pages
- Unknown
- Original Language
- English
- Avg User Rating
- No ratings yet
- Alternate Titles
- None
This book is not currently on any lists.