WHAT THE NATURALIZED CITIZENSHIP PROJECT IS ABOUT
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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.
HERE ARE WAYS YOU CAN PARTICIPATE
SHIFTING BALANCE SHEETS
Visit our library page and read through the excerpts from 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 GROUPUsing 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.
COMPLEX ALLEGIANCES
Our second Naturalized Citizenship Project anthology, Complex Allegiances, which will be published in late spring, 2012, explores many different experiences of citizenship and cultural attachment: young people raised in the U.S. since early childhood who feel American but have no legal avenue to citizenship; people young and old who are American citizens but have lived most or all of their lives abroad and may identify most with their country of residence; dual citizens; immigrants living in the U.S. permanently who have no desire to change citizenship to reflect their chosen country of residence (and U.S. expats doing the same elsewhere in the world); naturalized citizens who find themselves after decades living and working in the U.S. returning to their countries of origin; people who come here through lottery, asylum, or amnesty; families where members have different citizenship status. All of these experiences and the perspectives they create help us understand the complexities of cultural and national allegiance, an understanding much needed for all of us to make informed decisions around immigration policy.
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