ThoughtGallery.org > Conditional Citizens: Laila Lalami with Fatima Bhutto

Conditional Citizens: Laila Lalami with Fatima Bhutto

The award-winning novelist asks: What does it mean to be American?

Conditional Citizens Book Cover

Being a citizen of this country is traditionally associated with certain rights, liberties, and protections. But accidents of birth—national origin, race, gender—can cast shadows over those advantages for certain segments of our citizenry, as well as their perceived Americanness. In her new book, Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America, Pulitzer Prize finalist Laila Lalami uses her own journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen to examine where the actual boundaries of Americanness lie. Exploring the enduring survival of white supremacy in legislation and culture, she argues that there exists a class of conditional citizens—the people America embraces with one arm and pushes away with the other.

Lalami speaks on her experience and her exploration of how we all belong to American culture with author Fatima Bhutto.

LIVE from NYPL is made possible by the support of Library patrons and friends, as well as by the continuing generosity of Celeste Bartos, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos, and the Margaret and Herman Sokol Public Education Endowment Fund.











When: Tue., Oct. 20, 2020 at 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Where: New York Public Library—Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
476 Fifth Ave.
917-275-6975
Price: Free
Buy tickets/get more info now
See other events in these categories:

The award-winning novelist asks: What does it mean to be American?

Conditional Citizens Book Cover

Being a citizen of this country is traditionally associated with certain rights, liberties, and protections. But accidents of birth—national origin, race, gender—can cast shadows over those advantages for certain segments of our citizenry, as well as their perceived Americanness. In her new book, Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America, Pulitzer Prize finalist Laila Lalami uses her own journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen to examine where the actual boundaries of Americanness lie. Exploring the enduring survival of white supremacy in legislation and culture, she argues that there exists a class of conditional citizens—the people America embraces with one arm and pushes away with the other.

Lalami speaks on her experience and her exploration of how we all belong to American culture with author Fatima Bhutto.

LIVE from NYPL is made possible by the support of Library patrons and friends, as well as by the continuing generosity of Celeste Bartos, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos, and the Margaret and Herman Sokol Public Education Endowment Fund.

Buy tickets/get more info now