The Border Crossed Us: Rhetorics of Borders, Citizenship, and Latina/o Identity

Conclusion: Denaturalizing Borders and Citizenship

Conclusion Denaturalizing Borders and Citizenship The analysis, elaboration, and bringing into question of power relations and the “agonism” between power relations and the intransitivity of freedom is an increasingly political task—even, the political task that is inherent in all social existence. —Michel Foucault Yo no cruce la frontera, la frontera me cruzo América nació libre, el hombre la dividió. —Los Tigres del Norte, “Somos Mas Americanos” It has become quite commonplace for scholars and social commentators to begin their work on Latina/os in the United States by remarking on the growth of the Latina/o population, on the relative youth of the Latina/o community, and on its increasing political mobilization. These studies regularly point out that Latina/os (or “Latins,” “Hispanics,” “Latinos,” “Spanish,” or whichever moniker by which they are referenced) have become the largest minority group in the United States. According to this demographic research, Latina/os account for over half of the population growth of the last decade, and the bulk of this increase comes not from immigration (though that is still a significant factor) but from “natural” population growth (births).1 In light of these observations, there is a relentless heralding of the cultural and political rousing of Latina/os. At different moments over the last three decades we have supposedly witnessed the rise of “Spanglish,” the “Decade of Hispanics,” the “Hispanic nation,” and the “Latin explosion.”2 No such refrain is more persis- 142 | Conclusion tent and thus more clichéd than that of Latina/os as a “sleeping giant” beginning to awaken (whether for good or ill, depending on who is heralding the coming “awakening ”).3 For some, Latina/os are the “new Americans,” while for others, they are overrunning U.S. borders and communities. Underlying both of these views is the persistent representation of U.S. Latina/os as a growing demographic community poised to overtake or at least transform U.S. society. In the face of such pronouncements, this book has sought to explore the contours of borders, U.S. citizenship, and Latina/o identity across history. I have focused on the rhetorical and material bordering and rebordering of U.S. citizenship and identity in the context of and by Latina/os. The four case study chapters have analyzed important moments of anxiety about citizenship and the nation, anxieties that propelled rhetorical and material bordering and that spurred attempts by Latina/o groups to rhetorically reborder, reshape, and challenge those boundaries of belonging and the terms of citizenship. The preceding case studies have recontextualized persistent claims of a Latina/o “awakening” by examining both historical and contemporary Latina/o vernaculars that helped to redefine U.S. citizenship and identity. Tracing Latina/os’ struggles with U.S. citizenship through situated moments, I have sketched a partial picture of how borders are rhetorically constructed and contested and how citizenship is enacted. As should be evident by now, the popular belief that Latina/os’ presence in the United States and the political activities of Latina/o citizens is a modern phenomenon, or one that is just on the horizon of possibility, is not only historically inaccurate but, more important, occludes the real struggle by Latina/o communities over the meanings and material conditions of citizenship and U.S. identity throughout U.S. history. A host of other struggles surrounding U.S. citizenship and national identity are prevalent in contemporary politics. Latina/o vernacular rhetorics of borders and U.S. citizenship are evidenced in the proliferation of political groups mobilizing for Latina/o rights, controversies over bilingual education and ethnic identification, and mobilization for political power, visibility, and cultural representation. In light of these and other continuing struggles for belonging, this conclusion offers lessons for our understandings of Latina/o identity, for the politics of borders and U.S. citizenship , and for scholars interested in these enduring issues. After exploring some of the themes of the preceding chapters, I outline several theoretical and programmatic insights about rhetorics of borders and citizenship for future scholarship. I also use the conceptual and methodological frameworks I have deployed in this book to meditate on broader questions, including the pitfalls and possibilities of a Latina/o identity politics (a politicized Latinidad) as well as the future trajectories of citizenship and national identity. Denaturalizing Borders and Citizenship | 143 “The Border Crossed Us” The “problem” of the border defines contemporary concerns about immigration, citizenship, and U.S...