Naturalization and Citizenship in North America

Abstract

The investigation of citizenship is, arguably, one of the most national of academic endeavors. Each nation can be said to police its borders in a way that is specific to its own national history. On account of this history, moreover, certain immigrant groups may seem to the national imaginary more desirable than others. This preference of some immigrant groups over others is often couched in terms of cultural compatibility: only those immigrant communities seem desirable as potential citizens, whose cultural habits, religion, and mores seem compatible with the dominant culture of the country they seek access to. In the North American context, the concept of “desirable civil subjects” has been closely intertwined with the notion of “whiteness.” This concept, however, is far from being merely a biological category; rather, it is, first and foremost, a social construction. As Matthew Frye Jacobson has argued, “Caucasians are made, not born” (Jacobson 1999, x). A given immigrant group is hence constructed as white by the dominant culture, and it is constructed as white with regard to its cultural compatibility.