‘Unseen America’: Citizenship and the Politics of Migration in California

Abstract

Chapters 6 and 7 focus on the history of migration into California and in particular the San Francisco Bay Area and consider how migration into California has defined the cultural, social and economic profile of the people and state of California. The first part of the chapter looks at the demographic profile of migration into California, focusing on its history of Hispanic and Asian migration. This part of the chapter also looks at the history of coercive and contract labour regimes in defining who migrated and how migration took place and what legacy this has created in the state of California. The chapter also shows how the United States-Mexico border has defined the nature of migration into the state and particularly the San Francisco Bay Area (Rojas and Angeles Cruz, 2008). This part of the chapter also considers how citizenship has intersected with migration and legislation in defining the exclusionary nature of citizenship for specific groups of migrants. The second part of the chapter focuses on gendered migration narratives and considers patterns of migration into the United States and specifically California. This part of the chapter looks at types and numbers of migrants into California and considers the increase in female migration into the United States and also looks at the relationship between gender, immigration and poverty.

The history of San Francisco is a story of mobile and shifting populations and constant renegotiations of boundaries of belonging in the local body politic (… Voss, 2008).

(Coll, 2010, p. 14)

Sandwiched between the working-class immigrant neighbourhoods of Chinatown and Tenderloin, and bordering the downtown financial district, San Francisco’s Nob Hill is home to some of the most elegant condominiums and to spectacular views of the San Francisco Bay. The neighborhood that once flaunted the palatial homes of the Big Four California railroad financiers is now fitted with exclusive hotels, condominiums, and the Episcopal Cathedral. Crouched among them, near the intersection of the California and Powell Street cable car lines, sits the Masonic Auditorium, its marble steps and massive Corinthian columns signal monumental status. Both history and locale have linked the white auditorium with the nineteenth century magnates whose wealth was created by the labor of Chinese, Irish and Mexican railroad workers.

(Coll, 2010, p. 1)