Thesis advisor: Jennie Purnell / In December of 2005, the United States House of Representatives passed the infamous Sensenbrenner-King immigration reform legislation that, if written into law, would have negatively affected the situation of millions of undocumented workers in the United States, mostly originating from Latin America. In response, the Latino community in the U.S. mobilized to organize a wave of rallies across the country during the spring of 2006. This thesis explores the construction of the collective action frame employed by movement organizers to mobilize protesters. It ultimately finds that the rhetoric of assimilation was chosen because of its ability to resonate both with the goal of effecting political change as well as with the identity of the potential audience. It was nevertheless found to be inadequate in addressing the larger issues of injustice affecting immigrants as it served to reinforce and perpetuate the oppression of consciousness that has often left Latinos feeling that their heritage must be rejected in order to be deemed worthy of certain rights in the United States. While movement organizers managed to mobilize millions of people across the country, their influence on legislation has yet to be seen, as no immigration reforms have been written into law as of the writing of this thesis. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2007. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies. / Discipline: College Honors Program.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_102374 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Ramirez, Allison |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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