Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)

361

Migrant “Illegality” and Non-Citizen Precarious Status in the Americas

RC31 Sociology of Migration (host committee)

Language: English

The case of Mexico-US undocumented migration has long dominated academic discussions of migrant illegality and non-citizenship in the Americas. The goals of our proposed ISA session are to (1) expand the conceptual terms of debate and (2) promote wider comparative discussions.
We propose to do this by inviting papers that address the production, negotiation and implications of precarious noncitizenship, including migrant “illegality” and forms of temporary legality, throughout the Americas (and possibly among Latin Americans in Europe). Papers written from several disciplines will contribute to international debates on immigration, citizenship, noncitizenship, social inclusion and exclusion, rights and stratification. 
We anticipate that papers will address the production of precarious status and migrant illegality in specific jurisdictions and attendant policy contexts, which are themselves inscribed within heterogeneous processes and definitions of democratization (e.g. Argentina, Chile, Canada, and Ecuador), and examine the strategies of various social groups for negotiating forms of precarious status in various settings, e.g. Venezuelans in the United States, Ecuadoreans in Spain, temporary workers in Canada, and various migrant collectives in Argentina and Chile.
Cross-cutting themes will include the intersections of class, gender, racialization and legal status; institutional negotiations of access to services and resources by and for precarious status migrants; and social movement and other organizing around these issues. Posters: