Iconoclastic Dreams: Interpreting Art in the DREAMers Movement

ABSTRACT

Given the prominent role art has played historically as a means of collective action, resistance, and representation, we seek to examine the role of art within the DREAMers Movement. We are interested in what iconographic features operated in the art produced and their function in the mobilization process. It is at the intersection of art and social protest that activists and social movement organizers struggle with the articulation of coherent and cohesive representations. While at first glance our findings reiterate the significance of art in the construction of representation, we argue for the recognition of art as a visual dialogue and producer of language. More specifically, we maintain that art representations in social movements are a complex composition of both identity and context.

KEYWORDS:

• Collective behavior and social movements
• immigration
• Latino/a sociology

Acknowledgments

The authors want to acknowledge the contributions of Elizabeth Witmann, and Promise Bruce, former research assistants who helped with the early stages of the project. We also want to thank the Office of the Provost at SUNY-New Paltz for the financial support for this project. And finally to Paul Lopes at Colgate University for his comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jacqueline Villarrubia-Mendoza

Jacqueline Villarrubia-Mendoza, is an Assistant Professor at Colgate University. Her research focuses on Latin American/Caribbean migration to the United States, with a focus on processes of incorporation in economically weak immigrant destinations. She has published work on the Puerto Rican residential incorporation in Florida, the role of social networks on the economic incorporation of immigrants, and the formation of occupational niches.

Roberto Vélez-Vélez

Roberto Vélez-Vélez is associate professor of sociology at SUNY-New Paltz. His research area includes social movements, memory studies, culture and Latin American Studies. He has published on the anti-military movement in Vieques, Puerto Rico, the intersection between memory, identity and politics, and the U.S.-Latin American political dynamics. He completed his PhD at SUNY-University at Albany.