Race and the Empire-state: Puerto Ricans’ Unequal U.S. Citizenship
Race and the Empire-state: Puerto Ricans’ Unequal U.S. Citizenship
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种族与帝国国家：波多黎各人不平等的美国公民身份
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发表时间：
2019
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通讯作者：
Ariana J. Valle
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作者：
Ariana J. Valle
当代关于公民身份的理论强调公民身份的法律和社会意义。公民身份赋予个人正式地位和专有权，同时也使他们成为国家共同体的成员。本研究通过考察美国公民身份对波多黎各人的意义来调查自由公民身份的原则。通过对佛罗里达州奥兰多市的98位波多黎各人的深度访谈，本研究发现了对公民身份的理论理解与实际公民身份经验之间的不一致。具体来说，受访者将美国公民身份定义为一种正式地位和一系列权利；然而，他们表示，他们的美国公民身份并不能使他们成为美国社会的成员。这项研究抓住了公民身份的法律层面和社会层面之间的不相容。我认为波多黎各人对美国公民身份的理解和经历源于(1)州政府将波多黎各（作为一个地方）和波多黎各人（作为一个民族）标记为不同的、劣等的；(2)将拉丁裔与外国和其他种族混为一谈的种族化过程。我在此提出的论点是，波多黎各人具有殖民地/种族化的公民身份，其构成是不平等的公民地位、不同的公民权利和被排除在美国国家想象之外。因此，这项研究强调了美国公民制度的分层结构。
Contemporary theorizing regarding citizenship emphasizes the legal and social significance of citizenship status. Citizenship awards individuals a formal status and exclusive rights while also granting them membership into a national community. This study investigates tenets of liberal citizenship by examining the meaning of U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans. Drawing on 98 in-depth interviews with Puerto Ricans in Orlando, Florida, this study finds incongruences between theoretical understandings of citizenship and the experience of citizenship on the ground. Specifically, respondents define U.S. citizenship as a formal status and a set of rights; however, they express that their U.S. citizen status does not grant them membership into the American community. This study captures incompatibilities between legal and social dimensions of citizenship. I argue Puerto Ricans’ understandings of and experiences with U.S. citizenship stem from (1) the state’s marking Puerto Rico (as a place) and Puerto Ricans (as a people) as different and inferior and (2) racialization processes that conflate Latino with foreign and racial other. I advance the argument here that Puerto Ricans have a colonial/racialized citizenship constituted by unequal citizen status, differentiated citizen rights, and exclusion from the American national imaginary. As such, this study highlights the stratified structure of the institution of U.S. citizenship.