Do “Undocumented Aliens” Dream of Neoliberal Sheep?: Conditional DREAMing and Decolonial Imaginaries

Abstract

Dreams have long been thought to be a space of fantasy and utopic hope. From Paulo Freire to Gloria Anzaldúa to Robin Kelley, many scholars have related the ability to dream with the ability to act collectively, to self-actualize, and to call into being worlds yet to be realized—dreaming as a radical political act. What happens, then, when dreams lose their ability to sense outside of the existing order? What happens when dreams become a mere recapitulation of that which already is? What happens when dreams become legislated and coerced? In conversation with contemporary literature on biopower and psychopower, this article acts as a dream interpretation of the DREAM Act (dreampower), analyzing how the assemblages of immigration, citizenship, and power come together by and through new technologies of governance. Focusing on the role dreams play in the political transformation of “undocumented aliens” into more terrestrial/palatable beings, we examine the ways material and symbolic forms of neoliberal life have been operationalized to patrol and condition what constitutes acceptable dreams and, therefore, who can be a DREAMer. We conclude with a call for a decolonial politics of ensueños: a call for a sleeping and a dreaming of alterity where we wake up in order to dream, and dream in order to wake up.

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