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Race And Immigration Law: A Paradigm Shift?, George A. Martinez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

For many years, controversies impacting many areas of legal scholarship have left the field of immigration law virtually untouched. Thus, although other areas of law have felt the critique advanced by critical scholars, immigration law has proceeded as a virtually self-contained unit. In doing so, immigration law has developed a paradigm for legal research.

As Thomas Kuhn uses the term, a paradigm, or normal science, "suppl[ies] the foundation" for research in the area. Scholars who participate in a shared paradigm "are committed to the same rules and standards" for research, and the paradigm "define[s] the legitimate problems and methods of …