Making Citizens or Strangers? New Immigrants and the Governance of Housing and Schools

Political incorporation is not always marked by a discrete event or behavior like voting. Oftentimes, one becomes established in the body politic through a series of interactions with institutions, which helped shepherd a person into political life. These institutions are especially important for immigrants, who face significant barriers to political incorporation.

Mara Sidney will examine pathways to political incorporation among new immigrant groups in Newark, New Jersey, an old industrial city where immigration has changed the nature of racial and ethnic politics. Specifically, she will examine whether and how immigrants are included in two areas that are critical to their life chances in American society: housing and education. Through interviews, focus groups, and participant observations of immigrants, Sidney will work to identify the institutional factors within the housing and education domains that enable or constrain immigrants’ political participation and influence. Her focus will be on the operation of government programs and immigrants’ interactions with government, which, Sidney argues, represents an important dimension of political incorporation.