Sofya Aptekar

In The Road to Citizenship, Sofya Aptekar analyzes what the process of becoming a citizen means for newly minted Americans and what it means for the United States as a whole. Examining the evolution of the discursive role of immigrants in the American society, immigrants’ own understandings of naturalization, and the growing inequality in who gets citizenship, Aptekar’s in-depth research uncovers considerable contradictions in the way  naturalization works today. Aptekar contends that debates about immigration must be broadened beyond the current focus on borders and documentation to include larger questions about the definition of citizenship.