Defining immigrant newcomers in new destinations: symbolic boundaries in Williamsburg, Virginia

Abstract

This article examines media representations of immigration in Williamsburg, Virginia, a ‘new immigrant destination’ in the USA. Through a content analysis of coverage in Williamsburg's local newspaper, we explore how reporters, columnists and readers draw on nationally and internationally circulating discourses to produce public interpretations of immigration issues and construct symbolic boundaries between and among in-groups and ‘others’ in the community. ‘National boundaries drawn locally’ captures how media actors use nationally recognizable frames to interpret local issues and define the parameters of community and national belonging. ‘Localized symbolic boundaries’ take their meanings from place-based, cultural understandings, specific economic conditions and demographics in the local setting. Newspaper discussions in Williamsburg distinguish between ‘deserving’ foreign student workers (primarily from Eastern Europe and Asia) and ‘undeserving’, racialized, Latino ‘others’. Our analysis advances theories of boundary construction and holds implications for the politics of belonging more generally in other immigrant-receiving contexts.

Keywords:

• immigration
• media
• symbolic boundaries
• racial ‘othering’

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2009 Annual Meetings of the Latin American Studies Association in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We thank Beth Currans, Kay Jenkins, Tanya Golash-Boza, Eileen Diaz McConnell, Monica Varsanyi and the anonymous reviewers at ERS for their helpful comments on previous drafts of this article. Lori Beacham and Maura Ooi provided valuable research assistance on this project.

Notes

1. Greater Williamsburg includes the city of Williamsburg, James City County and Upper York County.

2. H2B visas provide temporary work permits for seasonal, non-agricultural employment.

3. There exist no reliable data on foreign-born versus US-born Latino/as in Greater Williamsburg, and census data almost certainly under-report the presence of undocumented immigrants. However, a 2008 University of Virginia study reported that 40 per cent of Hispanic residents in Virginia were foreign born (Cai 2008, p. 2).

4. Since not every section of the newspaper is published online, the authors and their research assistants reviewed every printed issue of the Gazette to identify texts that contained keywords such as immigrant(s), immigration, ‘illegals’, ‘aliens’, foreigners, foreign workers, Mexicans and Hispanics.

5. With the exception of personal attacks, libel or comments deemed racist or bigoted, an estimated 80 per cent of contributions to the Last Word are printed (Rusty Carver, personal email communication, 20 March 2008).

6. Coding categories were drawn from the existing literature as well as from the extensive ethnographic research conducted by the second author in Williamsburg.

7. Twelve texts did not fit into these categories and were coded as ‘miscellaneous’.

8. Each text was coded by one of the authors and by one of two research assistants. In cases where coders differed, the author who had not served as an original coder served as the arbitrator.

9. Despite our use of the designation ‘balanced’, we recognize that such representations can be employed to support anti-immigrant positions.

10. Amounts do not equal 100 percent due to rounding error.

11. Our data included three political advertisements, which we included in the analysis but not in tallies of texts authored by readers versus newspaper staff.

12. Citations of texts from our data set are provided parenthetically.

13. Coverage by the Gazette on the proceedings in these cases (such as Martinez's competency to stand trial) was frequently followed by extensive reader-generated commentary.

14. This case became the subject of an infamous debate between network news analysts Geraldo Rivera and Bill O'Reilly (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhwwbNA3hjg).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Deenesh Sohoni

DEENESH SOHONI is Associate Professor of Sociology at The College of William & Mary.

Jennifer Bickham Mendez

JENNIFER BICKHAM MENDEZ is Associate Professor of Sociology at The College of William & Mary.