As a Cuban-American attempting to straddle both identities , it feels as though I will never be entirely American — at least not to the extent that my passport suggests that I am . I will always be ni de aquí , ni de allá : not from here and not from there . This phrase , which is commonly ascribed to children of the diaspora , perfectly describes the liminality of the migrant experience . Blogger Maritza Chavez , who is herself Latina , highlights the complications of these overlapping identities within the context of traveling , particularly when asked the question “ where are you from ?” 10 As someone who is bicultural , I do not see myself reflected in the mountains or golden wheat that grace its pages . Home does not exist in the passport ’ s Americana . To me , being American is a feeling — and while it may show up in my official documents , it is unfamiliar to me all the same . It is within this framework that I ask , what does home look like ? What does it mean to inhabit multiple , seemingly irreconcilable identities ? What does it mean to have an identity forced upon you ? And perhaps most importantly of all , what does it mean to be you ?
Suchitra Mattai , [ detail of ] a wall a sea a sorrow , 2022 , vintage saris , woven fabric printed with Guyanese passports . Courtesy of the artist . Photo credit : Ivan Peñafiel .
1
Craig Robertson parses this concept in The Passport in America : The History of a Document , where he explores the inherent limitations of using a document such as the passport to define an individual ’ s identity .
2
Hannah Morse discusses the shortcomings of the passport photo in her phenomenal curatorial essay associated with Reframing the Passport , an online exhibition mounted at Columbia University ’ s Wallach Art Gallery in the spring of 2020 . Its catalog can be accessed via https :// wallach . columbia . edu / exhibitions / reframing-passport-photo .
3
Mandy Kinne , “ What Year Was the Passport First Used and Why Was It Required ?,” HistoryNet ( HistoryNet , February 6 , 2016 ), https :// www . historynet . com / what-year-was-the-passport-first-used-and-why-was-it-required /.
4
“ Passport , 1869 ,” National Museum of American History ( Smithsonian Institution ), https :// americanhistory . si . edu / collections / search / object / nmah _ 1464439 .
5
For more on golden passports , see Hannah Towey , “ A Record Number of Americans Applied for Second Citizenship in 2022 . These Are the 11 Countries Where You Can Buy a ‘ Golden Passport .’,” ( Business Insider , February 21 , 2023 ), https :// www . businessinsider . com / countries-buycitizenship-golden-passport-countries-list-2022-8 # 1-austria-estimated-95-million-investment-required-1 .
6
Both Reframing the Passport and Allan Sekula ’ s seminal essay “ The Body and the Archive ” address photography as an oppressive tool instrumental to the development of racist systems of identification .
7
Dimitry Vladimirovich Kochenov , “ Ending the passport apartheid . The alternative to citizenship is no citizenship — A reply ,” International Journal of Constitutional Law , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pgs . 1525 – 1530 , https :// doi . org / 10.1093 / icon / moaa108
8
These statistics were culled from “ The Official Passport Index Ranking ,” Henley & Partners , accessed April 2 , 2023 , https :// www . henleyglobal . com / passport-index / ranking and the “ Global Passport Power Rank 2023 ,” Passport Index - Global Mobility Intelligence , accessed April 2 , 2023 , https :// www . passportindex . org / byRank . php .
9
For an excellent essay that confronts the notion of “ unlucky ” passports , see Thana Faroq , “ My Passport Is ‘ Unlucky ’,” Medium , May 1 , 2019 , https :// witness . worldpressphoto . org / my-passport-is-unlucky-4902ddead207 .
10
Maritza Chavez , “ Traveling as a Latina : ‘ Where Are You from ?” - Ni De Aquí Ni De Allá ,” Travel Notes and Things , December 1 , 2022 , https :// www . travelnotesandthings . com / where-are-you-from-ni-de-aqui-ni-de-alla /.
41