Marjorie S Zatz and Nancy Rodriguez, Dreams and nightmares: Immigration policy, youth and families
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865816672138 |
| Author | Leanne Weber |
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
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royal commissions, for reassurance or legitimacy, may become redundant. As part of the
new meritocracy and efficient bureaucracy being constructed, new sources of official dis-
course – consultants’ reports, for example – could be purchased; meanwhile the annual
police reports have undergone a process of reconstruction, now providing generous docu-
mentation as to how their organisation conformed to the imperatives of efficiency and
effectiveness. (p. 3)
Even un-updated, the book is a fine contribution to the field of studies of inquiries and to
the sociology of knowledge more generally, especially since it raises important questions
about influences and understandings of the nature of ‘truth’. This does not seem a ‘hot’
area of study, although according to Sociological Abstracts, there is at least a trickle of
further material at the rate of perhaps one a year. So the time is ripe for an updated
edition.
Reference
Burton, F., & Carlen, P. (1979). Official discourse. London, England: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Marjorie S Zatz and Nancy Rodriguez, Dreams and nightmares: Immigration policy, youth and families.
University of California Press: Oakland, CA, 2015; 216 pp. ISBN 9780520283060,
$39.95, £29.95 (pbk)
Reviewed by: Leanne Weber, Monash University, Australia
Although the presidency of Barack Obama promised a more progressive and socially
just future for American citizens, it will be remembered by many for ushering in an era of
unprecedented mass deportation. Dreams and Nightmares: Immigration Policy, Youth
and Families meticulously dissects the evolution of deportation policy during this period,
including the inability of the Obama administration to pass legislation that would have
offered some respite to undocumented migrants who entered the United States as chil-
dren. The book takes its title, in part, from the acronym for that stalled legislation – the
Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. Against a backdrop
of political failure to instigate fundamental reform at the federal level, Zatz and
Rodriguez systematically document the nightmare of family destruction and return to
danger that was the ultimate result.
Major works on deportation policy and practice have slowly begun to appear
within the immigration control literature (e.g., De Genova & Peutz, 2010 in the
US, Nicholls, 2007 in Australia, and Pratt, 2005 in Canada). What sets this book
apart is its sustained focus on the deportation of children and their families. With the
exception of Child Migration and Human Rights in a Global Age by Jacqueline Bhabha
(2014), cited by Zatz and Rodriguez, there is a paucity...
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