Ciudadanía. Notas Sobre Un Mito Americano / Citizenship. Notes on an American Myth

About this book

"Personal, profunda, comprometida y abarcadora... Esta es una obra esencial para estos tiempos convulsos." --BOOKLIST (reseña destacada) Este libro no se parece a ninguno. En él, Daisy Hernández se adentra, con perspicacia y precisión, en uno de los temas más complejos de la vida y la política contemporáneas: la ciudadanía. Teje una historia nacional desde una mirada personal, al profundizar en el debate más actual en Estados Unidos: ¿quién pertenece y quién no pertenece a un país? Con su inigualable talento narrativo, Hernández entrecruza memorias familiares, costumbres de sus padres en Colombia y Cuba, sucesos personales, con pasajes fundamentales de la historia mundial, usando la crítica cultural como punto de partida para desnudar mitos persistentes. Conmovedor, valiente y tierno a partes iguales, Ciudadanía es un poderoso retrato de las experiencias de los emigrantes y una iluminadora reflexión sobre la pertenencia. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION A provocative, personal, blazingly intelligent examination of one of the most vexing questions facing the United States today: Who is, and should be, a citizen? "How did 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free' turn upside down to where we are today? Everyone needs to read this book, citizens and non-citizens alike. Brilliant!"--Sandra Cisneros "The most comprehensive book on citizenship/immigration I've ever read. A must-read!"--Javier Zamora. In this one-of-a-kind book, Daisy Hernández fiercely interrogates one of the most complicated subjects of contemporary life and politics: citizenship. Braiding memoir, history, and cultural criticism, she exposes the truths and lies of how we define ourselves as a country and a people. Turning to her own family's stories--her mother arrived from Colombia, while her father was a political refugee from Castro's Cuba--Hernández shows how the very idea of citizenship is a myth, one of the stories we tell ourselves about the American soul and psyche. Reframing our understanding of what it means to be an American, Citizenship is an urgent and necessary account of the laws, customs, and language we use to include and exclude, especially those who come from Latin America. With her scholar's mind and memoirist's gift for narrative, Hernández weaves a story both personal and national, while reckoning with our country's ongoing debate about who belongs and providing fresh ways of thinking about citizenship. At once bracing, fearless, and tender, Citizenship is a powerful portrait of one family's experiences in the borderlands of citizenship and an honest illumination of the country in which we live.