Book Review: Undocumented storytellers: Narrating the immigrant rights movement

• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Author: Krista M. Perreira
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567720945006
• Date: 01 December 2020
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

Bishop, S. (2019).

Undocumented storytellers: Narrating the immigrant rights movement. Oxford University Press. 228 pp. $35.00

(paperback), ISBN 9780190917159.

Reviewed by: Krista M. Perreira, Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina, School of Med-

icine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

DOI: 10.1177/1057567720945006

As of 2017, the Pew Research Center estimated that 10.5 million undocumented immigrants lived in

the United States—a number that has been declining since 2007. Approximately 1.3 million of these

undocumented immigrants were children at the time of their arrival to the United States and were

eligible for protection from deportation through the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for

Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. However, the Migration Policy Institute reports that only

660,880 had received DACA as of June 2019. Under the Trump Administration, no new DACA

applications are being accepted, and the program may be terminated.

Sarah Bishop’s most recent book, Undocumented Storytellers: Narrating the Immigrant Rights

Movement, chronicles the immigration stories of 40 undocumented young adults living in New York

City.Some have received protectionfrom deportation throughthe DACA program. Othershave not. All

are dreamers sha ring their exper iences and givin g voice to an immi grant rights movem ent eager to

establisha pathway to U.S. citizenshipfor undocumentedyouth who have grownup in the United States.

Bishop, an assistant professor of communication studies at Baruch College, frames the stories of

her narrators as reclaimant narratives. They are the stories of marginalized individuals “reclaiming

the power” to speak for themselves. In doing so, they educate us about their lived experiences,

demonstrate the effects of life without documentation, and challenge us to reexamine the notion of

U.S. citizenship. At the same time, Bishop recognizes that the stories told by her narrators are, in

part, public performances designed to build connections between the narrator and the audience and

to provide counternarratives that rebuff stereotypes and add complexity to the discourse regarding

undocumented immigrants. In telling their stories, Bishop also recognizes that each narrator assumes

a risk. Occupying a precarious social position in the United States, the narrators of the immigrant

rights movement risk exposure accompanied by social and political backlash toward themselves and

their families. They have been arrested, threatened, and demeaned on social media. They also risk

the possibility that their stories will be misunderstood and appropriated in ways that undermine

rather than strengthen the argument for changes in U.S. laws and policies. Empathy for their

experiences may result in actions to resolve their particular cases but may not lead to systemic

reforms. Consequently, they can find themselves in a political catch-22.

While several scholarly articles and books have been written about undocumented immigrants,

DACA recipients, and dreamers, three aspects of Bishop’s approach set it apart from others. First,

she moves beyond the characterization of undocumented immigrants as Mexican and Central Amer-

ican. Over half of her narrators came from Asia (e.g., Bangladesh, the Philippines, South Korea,

Thailand, and Uzbekistan), the Caribbean (e.g. , Jamaica and the Dominican Republic), Europe

(e.g., Albania, Hungry, and Spain), and South America (e.g., Columbia, Peru, and Ecuador). This

diversity highlights the fact that nearly half of the immigrants living in the United States without

authorization entered lawfully. They did not cross the Southwest border and enter clandestinely.

They or their parents came with student visas, work visas, and tourist visas. Then, overstayed these

visas. This diversity also highlights the role of whiteness in the lived experiences of undocumented

immigrants. Whiteness confers a privilege upon many of the immigrants from Europe and South

America who are not immediately seen as “other,” “foreign,” or “different.” They slip invisibly

through public spaces where police officers and other public officials notice and question the

belonging of persons who do not meet the phenotypical norms associated with American.

478 International Criminal Justice Review 30(4)