A01=Arely M. Zimmerman
Author_Arely M. Zimmerman
Category=JBFH
Category=JBSL
Category=JHMC
Category=JPVC
Central American migration
el salvador activism
el salvador immigration
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Faith-based activism
immigrant rights
Immigration activism
Latinx social movements
Migrant justice
Mutual aid networks
Salvadoran diaspora
Testimonio Latin America
Transnational politics
transnationalism
Undocumented immigrants
Product details
- ISBN 9780816554614
- Weight: 254g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 31 Mar 2026
- Publisher: University of Arizona Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Contentious Citizenship reshapes how we understand belonging, identity, and political participation in the context of migration. Drawing on decades of Salvadoran activism from the 1980s solidarity movement to the post–civil war era, Arely M. Zimmerman offers a powerful ethnographic account of how migrants challenge exclusionary state practices and redefine citizenship on their own terms using transnational networks and revolutionary politics that transcend borders.
Drawing on nearly fifty interviews with activists who fled El Salvador, Zimmerman traces how political refugees carried with them strategies of resistance and community organizing that shaped social justice movements in the United States. The book addresses the political turmoil and grassroots mobilizations in El Salvador, the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, contemporary activism, and the impact of women’s strategies and forms of resistance.
Essential reading for scholars and students of migration, Central American studies, and political movements, Contentious Citizenship is a bold intervention into contemporary debates on identity, legality, and resistance. Zimmerman’s work honors the ingenuity and resilience of Salvadoran activists and invites readers to consider what it means to belong.
Drawing on nearly fifty interviews with activists who fled El Salvador, Zimmerman traces how political refugees carried with them strategies of resistance and community organizing that shaped social justice movements in the United States. The book addresses the political turmoil and grassroots mobilizations in El Salvador, the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, contemporary activism, and the impact of women’s strategies and forms of resistance.
Essential reading for scholars and students of migration, Central American studies, and political movements, Contentious Citizenship is a bold intervention into contemporary debates on identity, legality, and resistance. Zimmerman’s work honors the ingenuity and resilience of Salvadoran activists and invites readers to consider what it means to belong.
Arely M. Zimmerman is associate professor in the Intercollegiate Department of Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies at Pomona College.
