The Uneasiness of Abundance – The Identity Effects of Double Citizenship for Ethnic Minorities

National/ethnic identities are based on multiple attachments and are constructed of continuously changing elements that gain or loose significance based on the context. One of these building elements of identity is citizenship, not only the basic component of the modern nation state and its political culture but also an object of social closure. Closure refers to processes of drawing boundaries, constructing identities, and building communities. Citizenship in CEE countries is often conceptualized as strongly connected to nationhood, and states in the region offer non-territorial citizenship for their ethnic kin living in neighbouring countries based on the individual’s self-identification with the nation. This ‘ethnizenship’ based on a sense of belonging is often in tension with the ‘empty’ citizenship of the state of residence, not only at the level of the individual but also a source of conflict among the states of the region. This exploratory paper proposes to analyse the processes of identity change that are caused by this duality in citizenship on the micro level, the individual. We assess qualitatively what is the meaning of gaining ‘ethnizenship’ for minority members; and how individuals re-construct their identity upon obtaining double citizenship, how do they reconcile seemingly conflicting loyalties. We have organized focus group discussions to be able to examine the individual views of members of ethnic Hungarian communities living in Romania and Slovakia as these are suited to study in-group interactions. Having two countries our analysis can be comparative. As such, we can explore not only how individuals conceptualize and (re)construct their identity in relation to their host state and the kin-state but also vis-à-vis their own minority community. We hope this way we can trace the multi-layered identity construction that double citizenship assumes, more specifically, how personal hierarchies of the different identity layers are constructed.