Citizenship and Governance in a Changing City: Somerville, MA

1. Introduction

1 introduction Despite our relative peace, we live with a persistent undercurrent of tension—Between those who have lived here all their lives and those who are new; Between those born in this country and those who are recent immigrants; Between those who can afford rising housing costs and those who are just getting by; Between those who seek immediate action on development issues and those who seek a different vision. (Curtatone 2004) Based on a multiyear qualitative study from 2004 to 2009 of a mid-size city adjacent to Boston, this book explores local influences that facilitate or pose barriers to civic and political engagement in the public life of an urban community. The book shows how civic and political engagement play out in Somerville, where residents are divided by class, race-ethnicity, and immigrant diversity and where local government is in the eyes of many an entrenched political structure. This book informs current debates about the place of immigrants in civic and political life and the role of voluntary associations in local politics and government. Some argue that host communities should actively facilitate immigrant incorporation because large numbers of “nonparticipating , unrepresented, [and] disengaged” residents weaken local democracy and community solidarity (Andersen 2008: 77; Bloemraad 2006). A contrasting view claims that only immigrants who have achieved full legal citizenship are entitled to be politically engaged. As for voluntary associations, some 2 Chapter 1 say these valuable agents of civil society should avoid politics altogether and focus instead on activities that build community cohesion and solidarity.1 others argue that voluntary associations are important vehicles for active citizens (and non-citizens) to affect public decisions and for democracy itself to thrive, thus requiring that associational activity connect to politics and government (Foley and edwards 1997; mark r. Warren 2001). At its root, this book is about the practice of local democracy. When people take part in the civic and political life of their own communities, their actions create a strong foundation for democracy. Democracy overall depends , then, on local involvement to build democratic participation from the ground up (elstub 2008: 181; King 2004; mark r. Warren 2001: 21). especially for those who have not previously been engaged, such as new immigrants , local participation is often the starting point for participation at higher levels (Hardy-Fanta 2002: 196; mark r. Warren 2001: 22). The central claim of this book is that full community membership, belonging , and acceptance by others—what i call social citizenship—is a key condition for a kind of democratic participation that i term shared governance .2 Social citizenship is “full membership in the community within which one lives” (Glenn 2011: 3). Citizenship in this broader sociological sense is “not just a matter of formal legal status; it is rather a kind of belonging which requires recognition by other members of the community” and revolves around social relations of exclusion and inclusion (Glenn 2011: 3; see also Bloemraad 2006 and Glenn 2000).3 instead of focusing on legal rights of citizenship, my study is, then, concerned with the actual local practice or substance of citizenship as a socially meaningful category (Glenn 2011: 3). in Somerville, as i show, actively engaged residents who were “born and raised” in the city typically have full social citizenship, while latino,4 Brazilian, and Haitian “newcomers” do not enjoy this privilege, even when they are legal citizens. This is true, even though, during my study, the mayor of Somerville appealed to what i am calling social citizenship when he regularly and publicly welcomed to his city everybody who “wants to live here, work hard, and make a positive contribution,” saying, “i don’t care what your [legal] status is” (Dreilinger 2007: 4). The concept of shared governance refers to a process for making public decisions that involves actors from both inside and outside government in an ongoing and dynamic way.5 Typical actors are organizations, especially voluntary associations and community nonprofits.6 Democratic shared governance operates according to “principles of openness, participation, [and] accountability” (Garcia 2006: 745). Civic engagement scholars describe various forms of democratic shared governance, all of which result in socially introduction 3 produced agreements about public issues arrived at by those in positions of elected authority plus non-governmental actors who challenge state actors to adopt different ends or collaborate with them to achieve common ends.7 This social production of public decisions is not intended as a...