Intimate Politics of Belonging in Migration and Citizenship Law and Practice

Abstract

This panel explores the ways in which the politics of migration and citizenship are shaped by norms on gender, family and sexuality – norms which intersect with constructions of class, ethnicity and race to produce distinctions between those who ‘belong’ and those who do not. We inquire into the role of representations of ‘proper’ and ‘deviant’ intimacy (love, family, parenting, sex) in state constructions of not only ‘wanted’ and ‘unwanted’ immigration, but also gradations of membership and deservingness attributed to citizens. Furthermore, we explore the responses of individuals confronted with the intervention of migration and citizenship law in their intimate lives and the effects of this experience on their sense of citizenship, membership, and belonging. Thus, we aim to contribute to the conceptualization of citizenship not as a formal, abstract relationship between an individual and the state, but as a lived, intimate practice and experience, which shapes and is shaped by meaningful social relations.