Los Desconocidos Sin Voces: Liminal Lives in the U.S.A. Open Access

Abstract

This thesis will explore the ways in which the undocumented immigrants currently detained in facilities such as the Stewart Detention Center exist both metaphorically (with regards to their marginalized positions as non-citizens) and literally (physically) in a liminal space in American society. In this space, they are subjected to inhumane living conditions, deprived of their fundamental human rights, and robbed of their humanity. Figuratively, this inhumane, undemocratic - and arguably unconstitutional - system functions as a microcosm of the way our government sanctions the mistreatment and/or ignorance of the plights of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. The literal situating of undocumented immigrants in remote areas all over the country (such as Lumpkin, GA) exemplifies how they are other-ed in our society; they are considered secondary or superfluous to a national identity that is ironically in a liminal state itself.

Table of Contents

PART I: The Rhetoric of "American" Identity and Belonging (15th-18th century)

INTRODUCTION
The Stewart Detention Center
Thesis Overview
Chapter Summaries
CHAPTER 1: Identity and Agency in Colonial America
LETTER #1: In The Words of an Inmate at the Stewart Detention Center
CHAPTER 2: Early U.S. American and the Emergence of Americanism
LETTER #2: In The Words of an Inmate at the Stewart Detention Center

PART II: The Rhetoric of "American" Identity and Belonging (19th-21st century)

CHAPTER 3: A History of Immigration and Exclusion: The Changing Rhetoric of American Identity in the Face of Immigration
The "Open Doors" Era: From 1776-1882
The Era of Regulation: From 1882-1924
Immigration Policy in the Wake of the Civil Rights Movement: From 1965-1986
CHAPTER 4: The New Latinos of the 1980s: Modern Immigration Rhetoric: From 1986 - Present
LETTER #3: In The Words of an Inmate at the Stewart Detention Center
CHAPTER 5: Detention Centers As Liminal Spaces in Modern U.S. Society
The Rise of Private Prisons Since 9/11
Life Without Status in a U.S. Detention Center
Off the Radar In U.S. Society
CONCLUSION
WORKS CITED

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Spanish
Degree	BA
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Language, Rhetoric and Composition Hispanic American Studies American Studies
Keyword	language machna Mexico policy liberal theory americanism possession immigration courts immigration law private prison inassimilability police state social hierarchy American colonialism media liminal space el refugio colonial america subjectivity human rights immigration reform Founding Fathers activism era of regulation minority rights racism slavery morality Lumpkin rights nationalism exclusion homogeneity inhumanity quotas bilingualism social justice racial hierarchy border patrol 1492 Georgia 9/11 indigenous United States Requerimiento Stewart Detention Center assimilability detention center Clinton Alabama Law refugee vigilantes Mexican-American ICE CCA detention U.S. immigration undocumented immigrant Treaty of Hidalgo Spanish-speakers patriotism neocolonialism U.S. constitution legal status community service rhetoric liminal immigration control colonization Spanish-speaking legal rights illegal alien Immigration and Customs Enforcement undocumented fourteenth amendment labor English-only civil rights xenophobia Latino monolingualism Christopher Columbus multiculturalism Indian space marginalization whiteness citizenship equality literacy hyphenated identity freedom alien Juan Crow New Latinos moral equality encomienda deportation American Dream oppression liberal Spanish identity agency Huntington imperial narrative Spanglish mutability Chinese Exclusion Act colonies open doors era paper desconocido immigration policy imperialism illegal immigration stereotypes territory Arizona Law democracy propaganda illegal immigrant Reagan Hispanic nativism document
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Stolley, Karen, Emory University
Committee Members	Reed, Walter L, Emory University Hartfield-Mendez, Vialla, Emory University

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