Throwback Thursday: Stella Burch Elias

Talking about changes to the UK citizenship test has me thinking back on this great article from oh-so-long-ago: Stella Burch Elias, Testing Citizenship, 96 B.U. L. REV. 2093, 2136 (2017).

Here’s the abstract:

In the last fifteen years, in the United States and elsewhere, there have been profound and remarkably rapid changes to long-established naturalization laws and regulations. In particular, aspiring citizens are now asked to pass increasingly rigorous language and knowledge tests to demonstrate that they can truly “belong” to the cultural mainstream in their new country. The political rhetoric accompanying these changes has focused heavily on concerns about national security and economic vitality in the context of the global recession. As U.S. scholars, lawmakers, and advocates consider how best to respond to renewed calls to overhaul American nationality laws, the recent experiences of other Western nations can shed light on the range of options that are potentially available. This Article therefore explores recent developments in the statutory and regulatory naturalization requirements in seven countries—the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Australia. This Article identifies potential options for reform to American nationality laws that are informed by recent developments here in the United States, as well as by the experiences of other mature democracies.

I found this article helpful in my work on Universities as Vehicles for Immigrant Integration, which talked about how American universities have the potential to serve as a “force multiplier” for the goals of immigrant integration that Professor Ming Hsu Chen identifies in her forthcoming book Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era. (Yes, I know, that’s a reference inside a reference inside a reference.)

Stella’s piece is an excellent comparative study that will get you thinking about what it takes to be an adopted citizen of a country.

-KitJ