Beyond infantilization and adultification: The binary representations of child migrants in the United States and how they harm young migrants

IF 1.4 3区 社会学 Q2 SOCIAL WORK
Daysi Ximena Diaz-Strong, Ivόn Padilla-Rodríguez, Stephanie Torres
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Abstract

The arrival of migrant children at the US–Mexico border has prompted vigorous debates about how to handle their admission and manage their access to resources. Portrayals of child migrants often draw on dominant conventional notions of childhood, creating binary representations that simultaneously infantilize and adultify them. This binary representation either strips children of their agency or criminalizes their actions and denies them protection. This paper exposes the inadequacies of the infantilization and adultification binary to represent and understand the experiences of child migrants, particularly youth who immigrate as teenagers, through a transdisciplinary approach. Integrating original historical analysis via archival research with contemporary social scientific analysis from qualitative research, this paper examines the longstanding binary representations of migrant children and their harmful impacts. The historical analysis shows that infantilization and adultification have defined the US response to child migrants since the mid-1960s. Making connections to the present, through the stories of two unaccompanied teenage arrivals, we show how the binary is experienced and how Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) reflects and reinforces the binary. The paper also highlights how young people, who do not fit neatly into the binary, come to subjectively feel adult, elucidating the need for an alternative narrative that embraces child migrants' agency and advocates for support and protection for all youth.

超越婴儿化和成人化:美国儿童移民的二元表现及其对年轻移民的伤害
移民儿童抵达美墨边境引发了关于如何处理他们的入境和管理他们获得资源的激烈辩论。对移民儿童的描述往往借鉴了占主导地位的传统童年观念,创造了二元表象,使他们既幼稚又成熟。这种二元代表要么剥夺儿童的代理,要么将他们的行为定为犯罪,并剥夺他们的保护。本文通过一种跨学科的方法,揭示了幼儿化和成人化二元理论在代表和理解儿童移民,特别是青少年移民的经历方面的不足。本文将档案研究的原始历史分析与定性研究的当代社会科学分析相结合,探讨了流动儿童长期存在的二元表征及其有害影响。历史分析表明,自20世纪60年代中期以来,美国对儿童移民的反应一直是幼稚化和成人化。通过两个无人陪伴的青少年移民的故事,我们与现在联系起来,展示了这种二元性是如何经历的,以及“童年入境暂缓遣返”(DACA)是如何反映和强化这种二元性的。这篇论文还强调了不完全符合二元标准的年轻人如何在主观上感到自己是成年人,阐明了需要一种替代叙事,包括儿童移民机构和倡导支持和保护所有年轻人。
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来源期刊
Children & Society
Children & Society SOCIAL WORK-
CiteScore
2.60
自引率
17.60%
发文量
125
期刊介绍: Children & Society is an interdisciplinary journal publishing high quality research and debate on all aspects of childhood and policies and services for children and young people. The journal is based in the United Kingdom, with an international range and scope. The journal informs all those who work with and for children, young people and their families by publishing innovative papers on research and practice across a broad spectrum of topics, including: theories of childhood; children"s everyday lives at home, school and in the community; children"s culture, rights and participation; children"s health and well-being; child protection, early prevention and intervention.
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