Articulating New Identities and the Public Framing of Immigrants

This study will focus on the framing of immigrants in the media, and the construction of collective identities and activism among immigrants, providing insights into how social boundaries are asserted, bolstered, and transformed.  The mixed-methods project will focus on understanding the public discourse, topics, and meanings assigned to immigrants, and how immigrant communities publicly organize for social change over time and place.  Data for this project will include newspaper articles, historical archives, and possibly Twitter data and other forms of online media.  Analytical methods include text and content analysis, quantitative event analysis, and comparative case studies. 

The project addresses two sets of questions: (1) What do patterns of immigrant organizing look like before and after key events in the last two decades?  What social conditions shape when and where immigrants organize to address social inequality?  (2) How are immigrants framed in the media over time and place?  How do immigrants frame their own campaigns and events?

This study is supported by funding from the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University-Bloomington.

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