Immigrant labor and informal American economy - reality and representation

The subject of my master thesis is the life of illegal immigrants in America, specifically women illegal immigrants, in correlation with modern and current processes of globalization, neoliberal capitalism and industrialization of the “Global South” which have caused and are influencing the newest wave of immigration to America. Instead of focusing on general theories and statistics, I have chosen to analyze Atticus Lish’s novel “Preparation for the Next Life” (2014) and the story of its main character, half-Chinese and half-Uighur illegal immigrant Zou Lei who is trying to survive in America. Through the story of her everyday struggle due to her “illegal” status to find and keep a job, I have singled out some phenomena connected to the labor production in global cities of today, such as informal economy, enclave economy and E-Verify. The methodology I have chosen is the ethnography of the particular and its main purpose is to concentrate on the particularities of a certain social phenomenon through studying a particular person or persons and the way they interpret their reality thus moving away from the usual dehumanizing methods of writing about culture in abstract terms. I believe that such methodology could help improve the American Studies and change the usual approach to any research concerning their field of study as well as promoting interdisciplinarity that American Studies seem to be lacking. My modus operandi in this master thesis could be summarized as comparing and contrasting Zou Lei’s story with current data available on illegal immigrants in America. Instead of just analyzing the subject of illegal immigrants in America, I believe I have succeeded in humanizing that topic as much as possible and offered a new perspective