Introduction: Language, Immigration and Naturalization: Legal and Linguistic Issues

Ariel Loring and Vaidehi Ramanathan

Purpose of this Volume

This volume aligns the research of scholars from a wide range of specialties who focus on the cutting-edge topics of citizenship, naturalization and immigration while accentuating language. These issues are relevant and important areas of investigation due to their controversial interconnection with governmental policies, naturalization testing, news and public discourse, and pedagogical practices. In all these realms, citizenship and immigration are entrenched in issues of national identity, language status, marginalization of minority and immigrant languages, distribution of community and educational resources, gate keeping, linguistic discrimination and assessment. The primary objective of this volume is to explore how language and ideologies of naturalization and immigration are reflected and applied in current practice. We are particularly interested in the consequences of such positionings for those seeking naturalization.

While sociopolitical dimensions of contemporary citizenship have been well researched (Extra et al., 2009; Hogan-Brun et al., 2009; Shohamy & McNamara, 2009), less studied are everyday practices, tensions and micro structures that empirically demonstrate how citizenship is practically negotiated (Blackledge, 2005; Joppke, 2007). Using various methodological approaches, each of the chapters raises nuanced issues regarding the complexities of immigration and citizenship for those within the citizenship infrastructure, and one doesn't need training in sociolinguistics to comprehend the extent to which language plays a role in these debates. Many of these concerns involve entry and resettlement in the US or other English-speaking countries and affect people for whom English is a second or third language. These issues often remain unarticulated or masked in the media and non-sociolinguistic circles.

In immigration policy, naturalization refers to the conferment of a legal status on foreign individuals who fulfill legislated requirements. While administrative discourse often frames this process as a symbolic demonstration of attachment and assimilation, there are various reasons why permanent residents choose to become citizens. These reasons are shaped in part by language policies and ideologies, and they not only affect the attitudes of prospective citizens, but also the attitudes of the host country's population. Because these issues are never straightforward or decontextualized, this volume follows a scholarly trajectory of interpreting citizenship more holistically. By shifting away from a discussion of legal documents, this newer orientation to citizenship allows us to ask: What policies keep individuals from participating fully? Where do languages and immigrant groups fall in this framework? The scholars writing in this volume analyze naturalization and immigration concerns in ways that both look at and move beyond legal definitions of 'rights and responsibilities,' raising issues of access, participation, engagement and culture.

What characterizes this volume in particular is both its focus on the everyday legalities of naturalization (such as the process of becoming an American citizen and the language of citizenship tests and classes), as well as a broader consideration of identity and social concerns (the labeling of who is or isn't 'American,' the lived experiences of immigrants in bordered areas and the media's interpretations of this process). For some authors in this volume, this demarcation of 'American' and 'non-American' is based on legal status, in which governmental policies and practices affect native-born citizens and permanent residents differently. But other authors observe that many of the issues that are typically seen as affecting immigrants (language policies, American identities and feelings of belonging) also impact native-born citizens who are seen as or see themselves as outsiders.

Not addressed in this volume is the differentiated treatment of specific populations of migrant people, for instance, undocumented immigrants and refugees. In this vein, resettlement and welfare allotments are also not pursued (but see Feuerherm and Ramanathan [2016] for a detailed discussion of refugeehood and resettlement as they relate to language issues).

The questions this volume explores are:

(1) What does the process of becoming a citizen look like?

(2) In what ways are people excluded from full participation?

(3) How does language position and frame insiders and outsiders?

In addressing these issues, the authors draw from their research in educational policies, naturalization exams and preparation, and community and public discourse.

This introductory chapter provides background information concerning the history of citizenship, scholarly debates in the field and naturalization policies around the world. It outlines key terms which citizenship researchers draw on, especially the authors in this volume. This terrain will foreground a legal discussion of citizenship.

Interpretations of Citizenship

The next section of this chapter is a review of evolving legal and scholarly interpretations of the word citizenship, punctuated by key quotes, to highlight its nuanced and multidimensional meanings:

The nature of citizenship, like that of the state, is a question which is often disputed: there is no general agreement on a single definition. (Aristotle, as quoted in Brubaker [1992: ix])

Ancient Greece is usually considered by scholars to be the first society where citizenship was enacted. Aristotle's conception of an ideal citizenship was based on a communitarian model, where all citizens within a city state knew one another. When a state or city became too large for direct...