In her work, Schildkraut has examined contemporary debates about immigration and its impact on the meaning of American identity. Much of the fervor fueling the anti-immigration debate is shaped by the belief that immigrants—legal and otherwise—are somehow a threat to our national identity. Americans, some critics believe, venerate a set of ideals and attitudes that are distinctly American. But do immigrants honor these same values?
They do, says Schildkraut, who investigates such questions in her continuing research on immigration in America. In her recent book "Americanism in the Twenty-First Century: Public Opinion in the Age of Immigration" (Cambridge University Press, 2011), she examines how people connect their belief about what it means to be an American to their opinions about English-only language policies and bilingual education.
Her findings challenge the persistent stereotype that somehow the immigrants themselves have a detrimental impact on American cohesion.
For more information see:http://ase.tufts.edu/polsci/faculty/schildkraut/
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