An Economy of Safety: Racialized Citizenship, Family and U.S. Immigration

• In Event: 3520 - Section on Race, Gender, and Class Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 1. Immigration

Abstract

This paper seeks to illuminate the characteristics of and relationship between national news discourse on Mollie Tibbetts’ murder and the debate surrounding U.S. immigration policy. Employing Collins’ theory of nuclear family as a model for national family, I posit that longstanding gender roles are racialized and coopted as narrative tools to inform policing borders and mediating access to citizenship rights. A qualitative content analysis of national-run newspaper articles matching the “immigr*” search term from April 1, 2018 to October 31, 2018 (a six-month window surrounding Tibbetts’ disappearance) was conducted in NVivo, using inductive open coding. Language describing Tibbetts was found to be gendered and relational, emphasizing her community’s loss. Belonging was referenced in relation to nuclear families, where separation was a key accompanying term, and the national family, where immigrants were characterized exclusively. Discussion of safety largely referenced asylum seekers and characterized the U.S. government as both protector and denier of shelter. Findings demonstrate the way U.S. news media discussion of immigration and border control fundamentally reflects concepts of family, safety, and belonging. Within the context of Trump’s family separation policy, safety functions as a commodity of U.S. citizenship capital, to which immigration policy mediates access. The male-coded U.S. government is constructed as protector of the American people and belonging to the U.S. national group is racialized along intersectional hierarchies.

Author

• Emma-Claire LaSaine, University of Wisconsin-Madison