
What does it really mean to be "undocumented," particularly in the contemporary United States? Political philosophers, immigration policy makers, and others have tended to define the term "undocumented migrant" legalistically-that is, in terms of lacking legal authorization to live and work in one's current country of residence. In Socially Undocumented, Reed-Sandoval challenges this "legalistic understanding" by arguing that being socially undocumented is to possess a real, visible, and embodied social identity that does not always track one's legal status. She further argues that achieving immigration justice in the U.S. (and elsewhere) requires a philosophical understanding of the racialized, class-based, and gendered components of socially undocumented identity and oppression.Socially Undocumented offers a new vision of immigration justice by integrating a descriptive and phenomenological account of socially undocumented identity with a normative and political account of how the oppression with which it is associated ought to be dealt with as a matter of social justice. It also addresses concrete ethical challenges such as the question of whether open borders are morally required, the militarization of the Mexico-U.S. border, the perilous journey that many migrants undertake to get to the United States, the difficult experiences of the women who cross U.S. borders seeking prenatal care while pregnant, and more.
How can a philosophical framework move beyond legalistic definitions to address the lived reality of undocumented identity and immigration justice? Amy Reed-Sandoval, a scholar in the philosophy of race and immigration, challenges the narrow legal status definitions of migrants. She proposes a new normative framework that integrates phenomenology and political theory to analyze the racialized, gendered, and class-based dimensions of social undocumentedness.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars in political philosophy and migration studies identify this work as a significant contribution to the ethics of borders and social identity. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is designed for students and researchers in philosophy and social justice fields.
Page Count:
240
Publication Date:
2020-01-23
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190619813
ISBN-13:
9780190619817
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