What is your dream? Fashioning the migrant self

In this paper I analyze a corpus of 15 video narratives of migration experiences posted on the United We Dream Movement website. The narratives are part of the group's campaign to convince the public and then President Obama to promote legislation to reform the migration system and help undocumented families stay together and not be deported. Based on a “narrative as practices” approach (De Fina and Georgakopoulou, 2008, 2012), I focus on the participation frameworks established through storytelling and on the linguistic and semiotic strategies used by narrators to present themselves as acceptable citizens. I illustrate how Dreamers negotiate both innovative identities as social activists and more “traditional” identities based on values largely shared in the host society.