PATRIOT ACTIVISTS: THE PERENNIAL CYCLE OF U.S. NATIVISM

Author: Connie Oxford, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is an analysis how nativist activists articulate what they perceive to be a loss of power regarding their own race, class, and national status because of undocumented immigration in the United States. The research is a qualitative study of semi-structured interviews with nativist activists who live in U.S. states that share a border with Mexico. I situate these data in the historical and contemporary context of nativist activism. Nativist activism is defined as exclusionary practices that target immigrants. The participants in this study were involved in activist groups with the explicit goal to eliminate undocumented immigration to the United States, aimed particularly at migrants who cross the southwest U.S.-Mexico border. Media representations of these groups depicted them as militia members whose activism was extreme and ideology overtly racist. I argue that the racism these groups espoused is better examined as it intersects with and is inextricably linked to class and nation. The data is examined using the power devaluation model that provides a theoretical framework for right-wing social movements by analyzing how political, economic, and social changes explain nativist activism.

Keywords: nativism, immigration, right-wing social movements

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