Introducing Undocumental—a new ‘forum for illegalized people’ launched from UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley celebrated the launch of Undocumental — a “new forum for illegalized people around the world” — at Berkeley Law this fall with presentations by founder and Jurisprudence and Social Policy doctoral student Joel Sati and an editorial team of academics and journalists from around the country.
“A project like this has the possibility of becoming the academic voice of the illegalized community,” explained Rafael Martinez, editor-at-large of Undocumental, and doctoral student in American Studies at the University of New Mexico.
Sati, the publication’s founder and executive editor, said that while other publications focus on the undocumented experience, none highlights the scholarly work of “illegalized people.” In his opening post, Sati noted that Undocumental “accepts the trailblazing ideas of all identities and all backgrounds in the intellectual resistance against illegalization.”
“I can call myself American, but if America doesn’t claim me as a daughter, what happens then?” —Esmy Jimenez
Sati said the concept for Undocumental came to him in the days after Trump’s election and to fruition with support from Alex Bush, a fellow Berkeley doctoral student in the Film and Media Studies Department. Sati then reached out through his networks to find fellow academics and kindred spirits interested in changing the discourse on immigration.
The Undocumental team is now seeking regular contributors and guest writers from around the world in an effort to build an intersectional and interdisciplinary publication.
At the event, Sati explained his use of the term “illegalization” in regard to Undocumental. He said that because “illegal” is a word used in law, it’s real, whereas the term “undocumented” is gentler but less accurate.
“Illegalization lets us think about how the law does or does not permit certain identities,” said A.Y. Odedeyi, a doctoral student in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Michigan who identifies as queer and was born in Nigeria.
Odedeyi explained that Nigeria is a violently homophobic country, a place where same-sex relationships are punished with prison time and, in some locations, death by stoning. She asks, “In what way am I Nigerian if I can’t go home?”
Esmy Jimenez, a radio journalist based in Seattle and Undocumental’s managing editor, said Sati’s intriguing use of the term “illegalization” in his Twitter posts prompted her to reach out.
Jimenez said she grew up hiding with her sister behind the couch when unknown people knocked on her family’s door. When she finally told friends about her immigration status, they said, “’You’re so normal. You don’t seem undocumented.’ What does that mean?”
“I can call myself American, but if America doesn’t claim me as a daughter, what happens then?” asked Jimenez.
Martinez recounted his childhood reflections on immigration. “When my parents said we came to this country for a better life, I thought what do you mean a better life?” He said those questions led him to higher education and to a responsibility to change the discourse around immigration.
Martinez said Undocumental provides a forum for expressing: “Yes we are intellectual. We are academic. We are these well rounded individuals.”
Odedeyi agreed, emphasizing the importance of undocumented people having the space and opportunity for an intellectual life that isn’t only about survival.
Undocumental’s launch was also supported by the campus’s Undocumented Student Program, Art of Writing, Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, and Human Rights Center.
The Human Rights Center’s Khaled Alrabe, director of the new Immigration Initiative, told students and community members that the illegalization of people is a global problem, not confined to the United States.
“The illegalization of people did not begin with Donald Trump and will not end with Donald Trump,” he said.
For more information about Undocumental, visit undocumental.com and watch this video.
