Rinku Sen's new book The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization is an amazing feat of intersectional analysis. She takes one man's story (her co-author, Fekkak Mamdough) and uses it as the narrative vehicle for an analysis of the ways in which immigration, nationalism, racism, globalization, September 11th, worker's rights, community organizing, gender dynamics are threaded together in an inseparable knot. Overwhelmed already? Don't be. The impressive thing about Sen's writing is that, despite the fact that she is juggling so many story lines, themes, and transnational issues, she manages to keep the language very clear and the structure very simple.

She argues that the current framing of the immigration debate--keep "them" out or let "them" in so they can provide much-needed labor--is limited and, in essence, immoral. Her key thesis is this:

Captive to the rhetorical status quo, both sides have decided, for various tactical reasons, to ignore three important realities. First, globalization is incomplete, creating a situation in which corporations are free to move jobs, operations, and capital anywhere they wish, while workers' mobility is limited by borders and immigration laws. Second, a permanent, unchanging American identity is neither possible nor desirable; the culture of the United States has changed many times over the course of its history, and further transformations are always already in motion. Finally, the current debate posits immigrants and U.S. residents as foes, when in fact our destinies are closely tied together. Without focusing attention on these three blind spots, we cannot gather enough information to make rational, innovative choices.

In large part, this book serves to expand these three realities--looking at each through the real life experiences of Mamdouh, an immigrant from Morocco who once worked in the World Trade Center's restaurant Windows. But even more profoundly, it argues for and serves as a model of humanizing the immigrant in a very deep way. She writes, "The dominant frames of crime and work, which in turn influenced the actual policies being debated, didn't allow immigrants to claim a fuller humanity that would entitle them not just to come to the U.S. and work, but also to come and be."

Sen's contributions with The Accidental American are many. She's given us a primer on the nitty gritty, day-in-day-out of community organizing. She's brought a fresh big picture perspective on the national conversation about immigration, pre and post September 11th. But her biggest gift with this book is the way in which she's brought fragile, real, tender humanity to this hot button political issue. She writes, "Without a frame that emphasized their full humanity, immigrants couldn't effectively counter the argument that their interests were fundamentally opposed to those of Americans." Sen has offered the frame, and in so doing, opened a window into a kinder, more just future for all Americans.

2 Comments

December 11, 2008 10:44 AM

[0+]  Buster said:

Thanks for plugging this important work. I especially liked that you excerpted this wonderful quote: "The dominant frames of crime and work, which in turn influenced the actual policies being debated, didn't allow immigrants to claim a fuller humanity that would entitle them not just to come to the U.S. and work, but also to come and be."

Finally with this book Rinku Sen is getting more of the widespread attention that she has long deserved.

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October 21, 2009 1:57 AM

[0+]  Carmen said:

Thanks for working pharmacy

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