Rights subjectivity in immigrant struggles for rights in the United States: the struggle for DACA

• Grant number: 22/04176-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: January 08, 2023
• End date: December 15, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Political Theory
• Principal Investigator: Cicero Romão Resende de Araujo
• Grantee: Andréia Fressatti Cardoso
• Supervisor: Jayesh Rathod
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: American University (AU), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/14387-8 - Dissenting migrants: the dreamers legal mobilization in the United States, BP.DR

Abstract

The aim of this project is to analyze the transformations of the subject of rights by undocumented, DACA-eligible, DACAmented and DACAlimited immigrants. The subject of rights is understood as a category constructed during political struggle, and policies could change how this subject is perceived, both by expanding and limiting rights. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) could be considered as a policy that enabled a transformation of such a category for those that had access to and were excluded from the program. In addition to the analysis of statistical data and legal suits about DACA, I propose a qualitative case study to analyze how political and legal subjectivities emerged in this process, by conducting semi-structured interviews with people involved with DACA in three paramount moments: before its implementation and in defining the eligibility criteria; in applying for DACA; and perceiving the limitations and cleavages it may have created among the immigrant population in the United States. Considering Washington D.C.'s centrality for politics and activism for DACA, as well as being part of the research field, this research will be better developed in a center with excellency in interdisciplinary and Latino studies, such as CLALS/AU. (AU)