Americans in the making:myths of nation and immigration in naturalization ceremonies in the United States

Citizenship ceremonies have been practiced for at least a century in the United
States. This article explores what citizenship ceremonies – the rituals created
to ‘make’ new citizens – can tell us about understandings of citizenship and the
nation. Focusing on the case of the US, the paper asks who is being held up as the
welcomed citizen and who is excluded in these public events. What does it mean
to ‘welcome’ a new citizen and how are migration and national history imagined
in these events? These questions become increasingly urgent in the context of
securitization and given current debates about the withdrawal of citizenship from
suspected ‘extremists’.