商品簡介
Tracing his story of becoming a US citizen, Jose Orduna’s memoir explores the complex issues of immigration and assimilation.
In July of 2011 Jose Orduna was naturalized as an American citizen, a decision made, he admits, in bad faith and purely out of self-interest. Though grateful to his parents for their many sacrifices, which resulted in his citizenship, he feels anger and resentment towards a punitive and racist government. With a searingly original voice, Orduna reflects on the complicated and contradictory experience of morphing into a “legal” young, brown immigrant. He describes the absurd feeling of being given a piece of paper—his naturalization certificate—handed to him by a robed judge to certify something he has always known: he has a right to be here and is, at least in theory, equal under the law. A trenchant exploration of race, class, and identity,The Weight of Shadows chronicles the process of becoming a North American citizen in a post-9/11 United States.
作者簡介
Jose Orduna was born in Cordoba, Veracruz, and immigrated to Chicago when he was two. At nine, he and his parents traveled to Ciudad Juarez and filed for permanent residency under section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Having entered the United States with a tourist visa, which had since expired, they were considered “removable aliens.” In December of 2010, while in graduate school, Orduna applied for naturalization, and in July of 2011 was sworn in as a United States citizen. He is a graduate of the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa and is active in Latin American solidarity and advocates for immigrant rights.
