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A Common Humanity: Ritual, Religion, and Immigrant Advocacy in Tucson, Arizona
Contributor(s): Van Ham, Lane (Author)

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ISBN: 0816529655     ISBN-13: 9780816529650
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
OUR PRICE: $26.25  

Binding Type: Paperback - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: October 2011
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Emigration & Immigration
- Political Science | Ngos (non-governmental Organizations)
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies - Hispanic American Studies
Dewey: 305.906
LCCN: 2011034939
Physical Information: 0.7" H x 6" W x 8.9" L (0.75 lbs) 224 pages
Themes:
- Geographic Orientation - Arizona
- Cultural Region - Southwest U.S.
- Ethnic Orientation - Chicano
- Cultural Region - Western U.S.
- Ethnic Orientation - Hispanic
Features: Bibliography, Index, Table of Contents
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
As debate about immigration policy rages from small towns to state capitals, from coffee shops to Congress, would-be immigrants are dying in the desert along the US-Mexico border. Beginning in the 1990s, the US government effectively sealed off the most common border crossing routes. This had the unintended effect of forcing desperate people to seek new paths across open desert. At least 4,000 of them died between 1995 and 2009. While some Americans thought the dead had gotten what they deserved, other Americans organized humanitarian aid groups. A Common Humanity examines some of the most active aid organizations in Tucson, Arizona, which has become a hotbed of advocacy on behalf of undocumented immigrants.

This is the first book to examine immigrant aid groups from the inside. Author Lane Van Ham spent more than three years observing the groups and many hours in discussions and interviews. He is particularly interested in how immigrant advocates both uphold the legitimacy of the United States and maintain a broader view of its social responsibilities. By advocating for immigrants regardless of their documentation status, he suggests, advocates navigate the conflicting pulls of their own nation-state citizenship and broader obligations to their neighbors in a globalizing world. And although the advocacy organizations are not overtly religious, Van Ham finds that they do employ religious symbolism as part of their public rhetoric, arguing that immigrants are entitled to humane treatment based on universal human values.

Beautifully written and immensely engaging, A Common Humanity adds a valuable human dimension to the immigration debate.

 
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