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

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 migra...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Bassel, Leah, Monforte, Pierre, Khan, Kamran
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2018
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10459.1/69028
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2018.1449808
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69028
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Naturalization
Citizenship tests
Neoliberal citizenship
United Kingdom
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spelling Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United KingdomBassel, LeahMonforte, PierreKhan, KamranNaturalizationCitizenship testsNeoliberal citizenshipUnited KingdomCitizenship 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.Taylor & Francis Group202020202018info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttps://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2018.1449808http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69028http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69028reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2018.1449808Citizenship studies, 2018 vol. 22, núm. 3, p. 225–242cc-by, (c) Autors, 2018info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/oai:recercat.cat:10459.1/690282026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom
title Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom
spellingShingle Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom
Bassel, Leah
Naturalization
Citizenship tests
Neoliberal citizenship
United Kingdom
title_short Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom
title_full Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom
title_fullStr Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom
title_full_unstemmed Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom
title_sort Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Bassel, Leah
Monforte, Pierre
Khan, Kamran
author Bassel, Leah
author_facet Bassel, Leah
Monforte, Pierre
Khan, Kamran
author_role author
author2 Monforte, Pierre
Khan, Kamran
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Naturalization
Citizenship tests
Neoliberal citizenship
United Kingdom
topic Naturalization
Citizenship tests
Neoliberal citizenship
United Kingdom
description 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.
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018
2020
2020
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2018.1449808
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69028
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69028
url https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2018.1449808
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69028
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2018.1449808
Citizenship studies, 2018 vol. 22, núm. 3, p. 225–242
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by, (c) Autors, 2018
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by, (c) Autors, 2018
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Taylor & Francis Group
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Taylor & Francis Group
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,81155

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