The Latino Public Sphere in Minnesota: Enacting Cultural Citizenship Through Media

Abstract

This study follows the use of social media in political organizing around the Dreamer and driver's license campaigns in Minnesota from June 2012 to June 2013. The research examines a segment of the Latino public sphere in Minnesota to examine how Latinos engaged in public deliberation online. Using citizenship and public sphere theory, the research shows how Latinos in the Twin Cities formed enclave and counter publics that aimed to transform dominant national narratives about immigration. The study examines how federal and state public policy defines undocumented immigrants as second-class non-citizens, thereby shaping Latinos' participation in the virtual public sphere. The two political campaigns also demonstrate how Latinos have used social media to push back against exclusion, to fight for civil rights, and to enact cultural citizenship. I argue for the need to increase media training that helps Latinos participate in democratic processes regardless of official documentation status.