Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America

This book traces the origins of the illegal alien in American law and society, explaining why and how illegal migration became the central problem in U.S immigration policy a process that profoundly shaped ideas and practices about citizenship, race, and state authority in the twentieth century.Mae Ngai offers a close reading of the legal regime of restriction that commenced in the 1920s its statutory architecture, judicial genealogies, administrative enforcement, differential treatment of European and non European migrants, and long term effects In well drawn historical portraits, Ngai peoples her study with the Filipinos, Mexicans, Japanese, and Chinese who comprised, variously, illegal aliens, alien citizens, colonial subjects, and imported contract workers She shows that immigration restriction, particularly national origin and numerical quotas, re mapped the nation both by creating new categories of racial difference and by emphasizing as never before the nation s contiguous land borders and their patrol This yielded the illegal alien, a new legal and political subject whose inclusion in the nation was a social reality but a legal impossibility a subject without rights and excluded from citizenship Questions of fundamental legal status created new challenges for liberal democratic society and have directly informed the politics of multiculturalism and national belonging in our time.Ngai s analysis is based on extensive archival research, including previously unstudied records of the U.S Border Patrol and Immigration and Naturalization Service Contributing to American history, legal history, and ethnic studies, Impossible Subjects is a major reconsideration of U.S immigration in the twentieth century. Best Download [ Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America ] author [ Mae M. Ngai ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr A very slow read but definitely worth it Anyone who thinks illegal immigrants are taking over the country needs to pull his head out of his ass and read this.If you are interested in immigration issues, you need to read this book Mae Ngai examines the legal and ideological ways in which the subject of the illegal alien was formed She has been faulted correctly for beginning her book in 1924 that is not paying enough attention to the importance of the Asian exclusion laws covered in a book like Erika Lee s At America s Gates Nevertheless this book is unique and thorough and interesting Immigration restriction produced the illegal alien as a If you are interested in immigration issues, you need to read this book Mae Ngai examines the legal and ideological ways in which the subject of the illegal alien was formed She has been faulted correctly for beginning her book in 1924 that is not paying enough attention to the importance of the Asian exclusion laws covered in a book like Erika Lee s At America s Gates Nevertheless this book is unique and thorough and interesting Immigration restriction produced the illegal alien as a new legal and political subject, whose...Before you begin this, understand it s origin as a Doctoral dissertation It is an academic work and I read it as part of an upper level undergraduate history course Because of its original intent this book is thorough in both documentation and analysis by Dr Mae Ngai In other words, read this with an open mind and a dictionary nearbyyou ll be a better person definitely a better U.S citizen for it.If you are serious about understanding the history of immigration in the United States Before you begin this, understand it s origin as a Doctoral dissertation It is an academic work and I read it as part of an upper level undergraduate history course Because of its original intent this book is thorough in both ...I am in no way an expert on this area of American history, so to me this book was pretty informative just in terms of filling in a fairly sketchy understanding of the history of immigration The section on the construction of the illegal alien was particularly interesting I do think the trajectory of Asian Americans from menace to model minority could ve beenfully articulated, and I would have also liked to readabout the relationships between different immigrant groups, instead I am in no way an expert on this area of American history, so to me this book was pretty informative just in terms of f...This book is very informative but also a very slow read It was a lot of the author making a vague claim then saying, Let s look at the history and launching into a too long explanation.Superb legal analysis of immigration history in the U.S.Excellent look at the period of harshest immigration restriction in the US, between 1924 and 1965, and the role of domestic politics, racial theory, foreign policy, and racial formation as both causes and effects of this policy trend, broken down between several different immigrant groups and periods ...Impossible Subjects is written using an interdisciplinary approach drawing from migration studies, transnational migration histories, diasporic studies, borderlands methodology, studies of race and ethnicity and a critical approach to nationalism, xxi xxiv to broach the subject of the production of the category of im migrant alien in...Impossible Subjects looks at the question of illegal immigrants to the U.S and the government policy that created them Our immigration policy was muchopen before 1924 except with regard to Asians, which is another whole story about extreme prejudice We re not just talking about people who slip in over our southern border The Canadian border has been a sieve at times and many have taken advantage of that But mostly this is a story of the U.S government s efforts to keep so called Impossible Subjects looks at the question of illegal immigrants to the U.S and the government policy th...I read this book for an American racial history class and I thought it was incredible The way it dives into the histories of different immigrant groups Mexican, Filipino, Japanese, etc and white reactions provides a background that is entirely necessary to understand the modern controversy around the immigrant crisis Although it s a heavy read, Ngai breaks down each chapter into distinct abstracts that help you retain the information Really great information and Ngai is a clear and I read this book for an American racial history class and I thought it was incredible The way it dives into the histories of different immigrant groups Mexican, Filipino, Jap...

• English
• 19 November 2018
Mae M. Ngai
• Paperback
• 400 pages
• 0691124299
• Mae M. Ngai
• Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America