Centering the Immigrant in the Inter/National Imagination

In this Article, Professors Chang and Aoki examine the relationship between the immigrant and the nation in the complicated racial terrain known as the United States. Special attention is paid to the border which contains and configures the local, the national and the international. They criticize the contradictory impulse that has led to borders becoming increasingly porous to the flows of information, goods and capital while simultaneously constricting when it comes to the movement of certain persons, particularly those of Asian and Latinalo ancestry. The authors examine Monterey Park, California, as one site where there has been a large influx of capital, information, and persons. Centering the immigrant in their analysis allows them to observe the interaction of national borders and the construction of racial subjects as community members negotiate electoral politics and coalition building