Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Dear Society, Anonymous

SURGE

“I can not wait to study abroad” multiple friends tell me

All I do is shake my head and reply “mhm I can not wait either”

I lied to them

I can not go out of the country, I can not explore the world

I am stuck in one place

This place is known as the United States of America that one day they said will bring the American Dream for my family

I wake up each day and I live in a world of fear, mistrust, and silence..." [excerpt]

Living...In Fear, Anonymous

SURGE

“What do you fear?”

“What is your weakness?”

Every time I get asked these questions, whether it’s by interviewers or friends, I dread every moment of it.

How can I possibly put into words the fear I live with every single day of my life?

How can I put into words the pain I feel inside of me to help you understand?

My parents have raised me to be the strong independent woman that I am.

They have taught me to discipline myself and always work 10x harder than everyone else.

They have warned me from a very early age …

I Am, Anonymous

SURGE

Hearing undocumented I want it to be for means of empowerment,
I am tired of the pity look, of the silence, of hesitation, of the thick air and the tension
Whenever I let people in.
When I let people in, I expect respect as a human being,
And not as a saving cause.
The last thing I ask is for reassurance or comfort
I had been undocumented for the last eleven years
Eleven years that I have internalized a distorted false narrative of who I am [excerpt]

Differential Responses To Constraints On Naming Agency Among Indigenous Peoples And Immigrants In Canada, Karen E. Pennesi

Anthropology Publications

This article illuminates the social structures and relations that shape agency for members of two marginalized groups in Canada and examines how individuals respond differently to constraints on their power to name themselves and their children. Constraints on spelling, structure and choice of name are framed according to the particular positions of indigenous peoples and immigrants in relation to European settler society as either ‘original inhabitants’ or ‘recent arrivals’. These historically unequal power relations are manifest in intertwined ideologies of language, identity and nation, evident in ethnographic interviews, media reports and online commentary. Differential responses include resistance, endurance and assimilation.