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

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