%0 Article %A Maney, Gregory M. %E Abraham, Margaret %D 2008 %G English %T Whose Backyard? Boundary Making in NIMBY Opposition to Immigrant Services %J Social justice %V 35 %N 4 %P 66-82 %U http://www.redi-bw.de/db/ebsco.php/search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3deue%26AN%3d508038156%26site%3dehost-live %X A study examined the issue of NIMBYism in two cases where community organizations sought to create spaces and put in place services for immigrants to the U.S. NIMBYism can be conceptualized as the informal policing of physical and symbolic boundaries in order to retain places of domination and control. Data were obtained from an ongoing collaborative research project on efforts to assist immigrants by the New York Asian Women's Center and the Workplace Project. Findings revealed that, in both cases, opponents had as their aim the imposition of physical boundaries indirectly through pressure on politicians and directly through endangering the safety of immigrants. Findings suggested that to legitimate their opposition, opponents created discourses of victimization depicting immigrants either as oppressive or as oppressed persons whose status victimized residents. Findings are discussed in detail.