'Acosta's work provocatively challenges legal studies narrowly based on North American and European experiences. This book is an essential reference for the comparative analysis of migration and citizenship policies in South America and beyond.' David Scott FitzGerald, co-author of Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas
1. South America's central role in migration and citizenship law; Part I. The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: 2. Open borders in the nineteenth century: constructing the national, the citizen and the foreigner; 3. The construction of the Hispano-American legal figure in the nineteenth century; 4. The legal construction of the foreigner as undesirable in twentieth century South America; Part II. Consolidation and Transition into the Twenty-First Century: 5. The construction of the irregular immigrant: the principle of non-criminalisation of undocumented migration; 6. The right to migrate as a fundamental right? The construction of the foreigner through equal treatment; 7. Open borders and the construction of a South American citizen; 8. Conclusion: constructing and deconstructing the foreigner: an innovative and exceptional approach?