Practicing Citizenship: Bolivian Migrant Identities and Spaces of Belonging in Washington DC

Abstract

Using a case study of Bolivian migrants in Washington DC, this article examines the contested nature of citizenship and construction of migrant identities. Bolivian migrants both reinforce and challenge the exclusionary nature of the US citizenship regime through practices and discourses that develop an expanded notion of belonging to communities in Washington DC and Cochabamba. While cultural activities such as soccer and folkloric dance fit easily within a multicultural framework of citizenship, they can also challenge accepted norms through quiet struggles over the control of public space. Bolivians employ language from the US immigrant rights movement that highlights their contributions to the USA and contrasts ‘good’ and ‘bad’ immigrants, but they also depart from mainstream discourses by describing local belonging in terms of transnational connections and contributions to Bolivian villages. Bolivian citizenship practices and narratives demonstrate how identities are always constructed simultaneously in multiple places even while migrant belonging is limited by restrictive immigration policies and irregular legal status.

Keywords:

• Citizenship
• Belonging
• Migration
• Bolivian Migration
• Multiculturalism
• Immigrant Rights
• Migrant Networks
• Hometown Associations

Notes

[1] All migrant names in the article are pseudonyms.