Open Hand, Closed Fist - by Kathryn Abrams

About the Book

"How does a group that lacks legal status organize its members to become effective political activists? In the early 2000s, Arizona's campaign of "attrition by enforcement" aimed to make life so miserable for undocumented immigrants that they would "self-deport." Undocumented activists resisted hostile legislation, registered thousands of new Latino voters, and joined a national movement to advance justice for immigrants. Drawing on five years of observation and interviews with activists in Phoenix, Arizona, Kathryn Abrams explains how the practices of storytelling, emotion cultures, and performative citizenship fueled this grassroots movement. Together these practices produced both the "open hand" (the affective bonds among participants) and the "closed fist" (the pragmatic strategies of resistance) that have allowed the movement to mobilize and sustain itself over time. "--

Book Synopsis

How does a group that lacks legal status organize its members to become effective political activists? In the early 2000s, Arizona's campaign of "attrition through enforcement" aimed to make life so miserable for undocumented immigrants that they would "self-deport." Undocumented activists resisted hostile legislation, registered thousands of new Latino voters, and joined a national movement to advance justice for immigrants. Drawing on five years of observation and interviews with activists in Phoenix, Arizona, Kathryn Abrams explains how the practices of storytelling, emotion cultures, and performative citizenship fueled this grassroots movement. Together these practices produced both the "open hand" (the affective bonds among participants) and the "closed fist" (the pragmatic strategies of resistance) that have allowed the movement to mobilize and sustain itself over time.

From the Back Cover

"This book will be one-stop shopping for understanding the immigrant rights movement in Arizona, one of the most important states of immigrant battles in the twenty-first century."--Paul Almeida, author of Social Movements: The Structure of Collective Mobilization

"A rich, qualitative empirical account of how deeply disenfranchised undocumented immigrants were inspired and empowered to form an 'unlikely' movement."--Lynette J. Chua, author of The Politics of Love in Myanmar: LGBT Mobilization and Human Rights as a Way of Life

Review Quotes

"In sum, Open Hand, Closed Fist is a must read for scholars of immigrant activism and, more broadly, for social movement scholars interested in the dynamic strategies of "challenger movements". By offering a richly empirically illustrated and well-researched inside look into the Arizona movement, the book solves a piece of the puzzle in accounting for the spectacular rise of the immigrant rights movement in the United States."-- "Social Forces"

About the Author

Kathryn Abrams is Herma Hill Kay Distinguished Professor of Law at University of California, Berkeley School of Law.