Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom

Bassel, Leah; Monforte, Pierre; Khan, Kamran

doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2018.1449808

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Issue date

2018

Author

Bassel, Leah

Monforte, Pierre

Khan, Kamran

Suggested citation

Bassel, Leah; Monforte, Pierre; Khan, Kamran; . (2018) . Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom. Citizenship studies, 2018 vol. 22, núm. 3, p. 225–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2018.1449808.

Abstract

Citizenship tests are arguably intended as moments of hailing, or interpellation, through which norms are internalized and citizen-subjects produced. We analyse the multiple political subjects revealed through migrants’ narratives of the citizenship test process, drawing on 158 interviews with migrants in Leicester and London who are at different stages in the UK citizenship test process. In dialogue with three counter-figures in the critical naturalization literature – the ‘neoliberal citizen’; the ‘anxious citizen’; and the ‘heroic citizen’ – we propose the figure of the ‘citizen-negotiator’, a socially situated actor who attempts to assert control over their life as they navigate the test process and state power. Through the focus on negotiation, we see migrants navigating a process of differentiation founded on pre-existing inequalities rather than a journey toward transformation.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69028

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2018.1449808

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Citizenship studies, 2018 vol. 22, núm. 3, p. 225–242

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Articles publicats (Anglès i Lingüística) [191]

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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as cc-by, (c) Autors, 2018