New Immigrant Whiteness

Claudia Sadowski-Smith is Associate Professor of English at Arizona State University. She is the author of Border Fictions: Globalization, Empire, and Writing at the Boundaries of the United States, which won the Transdisciplinary Humanities Book Award in 2009. She is also the editor of Globalization on the Line: Culture, Capital, and Citizenship at U.S. Borders.

"Sadowski-Smith excels in her comparative analysis of former Soviet immigrants—who are unquestionably white but have segmented access to citizenship based on their legal status—and other immigrant groups similarly associated with upward mobility." - CHOICE "This multi-layered, cross-disciplinary book makes us aware of the shades of whiteness that tend to be systematically erased when subjected to the binary color line that historically defines racial difference in the US. Looking at areas of representation as diverse as reality TV, literature, and international adoption, Sadowski-Smith's study of immigration from the post-Soviet region makes a persuasive argument for a subtle, relational understanding of race and ethnicity as flexible, historically shifting categories." - Anikó Imre,University of Southern California "This amazingly rich book provides a much-needed window into the diverse Post-Soviet diaspora and offers a new understanding of how immigrant whiteness and race work today. Sadowski-Smith's original interdisciplinary approach and cross-ethnic comparative research make The New Immigrant Whiteness stand out in the field of migration studies. Scholars and students seeking to understand the transnational cultures, gender and family dynamics, and migration and adaptation strategies of contemporary European migrants need to start with this book." - Erika Lee,University of Minnesota