Born in the U.S.A.: citizenship acquisition and transnational mothering in Turkey

This article explores the practice of giving birth in the U.S. for the purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for the newborn children, among upper and upper-middle class mothers who otherwise are permanently located in Turkey. Focusing on their motivations, anxieties and practices, we situate our analysis with respect to discussions of intensive mothering, transnational motherhood and multi-layered meanings of citizenship. We suggest that the motivations women have for traveling to and staying in the U.S. in the later stages of their pregnancy reveal a new terrain of intensive mothering, tied to locally specific perceptions of future unpredictability and restrictions on individual choice. This particular discourse of intensive mothering involves the promotion of individualistic-decision-making and individualized efforts to control macro-processes, and reveals how citizenship acquisition for the children reproduces and disguises inequalities at the transnational level. Yet, this is also an intensely emotional process, not only indicative of the pressures on mothers, but also women’s multilayered conflicts of belonging and identity across spaces and scales of citizenship.     

布罗代尔在拉丁美洲和美国的不同影响

前　言法国伟大历史学家费尔南·布罗代尔的著作和学术贡献在北美史学界和社会科学界的影响 ,与其在拉丁美洲历史研究和不同文化地区的社会问题研究中的影响截然不同。今天 ,在 1 999年要问何以如此 ,这个问题涉及在行将过去的 2 0世纪 (从年代上而不是从历史的角度而言 )法国文化在境外产生影响的两个重要篇章。法国的贡献在本土之外传播的这两个篇章 ,基本上向我们提出了一个比较具有普遍意义的主题 ,即过去一百年中的“跨文化交流”(ｔｒａｎｓｃｕｌｔｕｒａｌｅｘｃｈａｎｑｅｓ)这个主题。在这个问题上 ,就涉及的人士和文化而言 ,这种…     

Archaeology and Politics in the Holy Land: The Life and Career of P. L. O. Guy

Abstract

Philip Langstaffe Ord Guy's (1885–1952) career in archaeology began as Woolley's assistant at Carchemish and as Chief Inspector for the Department of Antiquities of Palestine during the 1920s. He is best known as director of the Megiddo Expedition (1927–1934), where he employed innovative techniques in balloon photography, and provided a highly influential identification of the pillared buildings found there as stables. He dated these buildings to the Solomonic era, sowing the seeds of a long-running debate over the role of the Bible in archaeological interpretation. Guy was later appointed director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (1935–1939), initiating the short-lived Archaeological Survey of Palestine. After World War II and Israel's War of Independence, Guy became a senior figure within the fledgling Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums as Director of Excavations and Surveys. Active involvement in Zionist politics through his marriage into the Ben-Yehuda family was a controversial factor that impacted on his career within 1920s and 1930s Palestine. Recent archival research allows an assessment of Guy's double life as archaeologist and political activist and the degree to which these areas intersected. His name can be added to the diverse spectrum of archaeologists working in the Holy Land during this formative but turbulent colonial and post-colonial era.