Open Hand, Closed Fist

How does a group that lacks legal status organize its members to become effective political activists? In the early 2000s, Arizonas campaign of attrition through enforcement aimed to make life so miserable for undocumented immigrants that they would self-deport. Undocumented activists resisted hostile legislation, registered thousands of new Latino voters, and joined a national movement to advance justice for immigrants. Drawing on five years of observation and interviews with activists in Phoenix, Arizona, Kathryn Abrams explains howthepracticesofstorytelling, emotion cultures, and performative citizenship fueled this grassroots movement. Together these practices produced both the open hand (the affective bonds among participants) and the closed fist (the pragmatic strategies of resistance) thathave allowed the movement to mobilize and sustain itself over time.