WHAT THE NATURALIZED CITIZENSHIP PROJECT IS ABOUT & HOW YOU CAN JOIN US Finding the 'We' in 'Them', the 'Us' in 'You'
Universal Table/Wising Up Press is developing a series of projects in the coming year, both books and social conversations, focused on citizenship and constructive acculturation in order to add an engaged but also musing, exploratory voice to the current questions about immigration we face as a country. We do so with the hope of creating a more generous, nuanced and open conversation that acknowledges the genuine doubts and grievances on both sides: "No matter how long we live here, no matter what we do, you will never see us as equal." vs. "All you want are our resources, not our ideals."
Our special focus is the social and psychological dynamics of naturalized citizenship, and we are inviting the participation of groups whose perspectives we think are especially valuable in expanding different dimensions of this conversation: women and individuals with complex cultural and national allegiances - citizens by birth, naturalized citizens, or those who feel culturally identified but do not have avenues to citizenship.
It is our expectation that the experiences related in these anthologies will invite all of us, native-born and foreign-born citizens, recent and permanent residents, to think more deeply and clearly about what intentional commitments we all need to make as citizens in a country whose essential claim to unity is the voluntary, intentional commitment to the core values of individual equality and the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness made repeatedly by different waves of immigrants in whom we all find our own relatives.
READ AND REFLECT Visit our library page and read through the excerpts from Complex Allegiances and Shifting Balance Sheets. Consider buying it and reading it, sharing it or what you learn from it with a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a teacher, or a librarian.
CREATE A Reading for Relation GROUP Using Shifting Balance Sheets as a catalyst for constructive, substantive conversations, create a discussion group anywhere that immigration is a hot button - with family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, members of your church, synagogue, mosque, or temple or school. Invite in people whose points of view, quite different from your own, you need to understand in order to understand the emotions and concerns on all sides. The book comes with many discussion questions which help you structure your sharing - and we're happy to consult on how to facilitate.
ORGANIZE A COMMUNITY CONVERSATION BETWEEN NATIVE-BORN AND FOREIGN-BORN MEMBERS OF YOUR COMMUNITY Help facilitate a more nuanced and empathic understanding of the complexities of the immigration experience for your native-born and foreign-born neighbors and yourself, share your own story and listen to the stories of others and begin to discover where and how we all can begin to genuinely say 'We' not 'Them', 'Us' not 'You.'
WISING UP PRESS READINGS & COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS on IMMIGRATION, CITIZENSHIP & BELONGING
October 18-20, 2012 Kennesaw State University 4th Conference on Immigration to the Southeast: Policy Analysis, Conflict Management
Kennesaw, Georgia
Charles Brockett, Ph.D. "Talking about Immigration: What Permissivists Need to Understand about Public Opinion"
Charles Brockett, Ph.D. and Heather Tosteson, Ph.D. "Reading for Relation: Integrating Personal Narratives with Scholarship on Immigration, Citizenship, and Belonging"
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 7:00 P.M. PEACE RESOURCE CENTER 1364 Fremont Blvd. Seaside, CA Sponsored by Wising Up Press and ACLU of Monterey County
Saturday, May 26, 2012 3:00 P.M. ADOBE BOOKS 3166 16th Street San Francisco, CA
Wednesday, May 30, 2012 7:30 P.M. CHARIS BOOKS 1189 Euclid Avenue NE Atlanta, GA
