Invisible Intruders? Citizenship and National Identity of Boston’s German and Japanese Elite Migrants Masayo Nishida Department of Sociology Boston University July 11, 2007 The Fourth International Conference on Population Geographies

1 Wilfried: Green Card is what I'm getting and [that's] all I need. I don't need to be able to vote, I'm already paying my taxes. [There is] no need for me to become a U.S. citizen.

2 Individual, Nation and State Citizenship - political affiliation (individual and state) Nationality - cultural affiliation (individual and nation)  Norm under the modern nation-state system: parallel between political and cultural identities in a given territory  International migrants: an anomaly

3 Patterns of Adaptation Political IdentityCultural Identity The AssimilatedHost Society The Culturally Adapted Society of OriginHost Society The Protectively Naturalized Host SocietySociety of Origin The SojournersSociety of Origin The Cosmopolitansn/a

4 Naturalization A discernible part of integration process –An act of changing one’s citizenship status –Associated with a shift in cultural identity?

5 Implications of Naturalization Old narrative –Creation of parallel between citizenship and national identity –Based on understanding of mutually exclusive choice of citizenship and nationality New narrative –Decoupling of citizenship and national belonging –Dual citizenship/Post-national membership –Divided national identities

6 Sample 25 German and 25 Japanese living and working in the Greater Boston area Professionals and white-collar workers 27 males and 23 females Average length of stay: 6.5 years Legal migrants (visa holder, LPR, citizen) Structurally well integrated into American society (work, residence, friendship, marriage)

7 Factors Promoting Naturalization High wage jobs High levels of formal education Greater command of the language Economic/political insecurity of the sending societies

8 Preference for LPR over U.S. Citizenship Pragmatic reasons –Little difference perceived between LPR and citizen status in rights –Equally “strong” citizenship of Germany/Japan –U.S. not necessarily the place of permanent settlement Dual citizenship not working as an incentive Stronger attachment to the society of origin Skepticism about naïve American patriotism

9 Naturalization Rate Naturalization rate for various countries of origin: among U.S. residents migrated between (2000 U.S. Census) Japan9.2%Honduras17.4% Mexico13.4%El Salvador19.9% Brazil14.1%Ecuador20.3% Canada15.5%Germany21.9% Guatemala16.0%Nicaragua22.8% U.K.17.0%All Foreign-Born25.6%

10 Negotiation of National Identity: Becoming Cosmopolitan? “Thicker” identity of the society of origin Attachment to U.S. also being cultivated Irrelevance of nationalism in their cultural identity (but not culturally neutral) Strong individual identity and weak collective identity Becoming “global citizens” rather than Americanized

11 Conclusions A strong sense of entitlement to live and work in the place of their choice in the world –Political affiliation to the states is seen from a utilitarian perspective –Nationality is not a major element of identity A force of partial denationalization (Sassen 2006)

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