Citizenship: The Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion

This section, organised by The Standing Group on Citizenship, explores the political, social, cultural and intimate terrain of inclusive/exclusive citizenship. It aims to gather together interdisciplinary work addressing the persistence of citizenship in contemporary politics and academic scholarship, but also new ways of practicing and theorising citizenship. The scene of dead asylum seekers washing up on beaches, increasingly restrictive welfare regimes, deportation of the dangerous and unwanted, the deaths of young black men at the hands of the police – these recurring news at present demonstrate how citizenship is a source of violent exclusions. Citizenship delineates both the internal and external borders of political community and belonging. There remains a (post)colonial context to the nature of inclusion/exclusion as bodies moving from South to North become vulnerable and/or threatening. Equally, the internal borders of citizenship are shaped by ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality; experienced in the marginalisation and dehumanisation of the poor, unemployed, minority communities, the young and the old. The internal and external borders shape the life chances and experiences of citizens, unwanted citizens, to-be citizens, and various social groups. In this context, healthcare, education, housing or land rights become sites of marginalisation. Simultaneously, however, claims to citizenship – by both those with and without formal rights – challenge concepts of the citizen and body politic. Thus citizenship can be a strategic necessity for survival, recognition and visibility. We see this in the actions of protest groups and social movements, such as immigrant protests, Black Lives Matter, trade unions and indigenous rights campaigns. This promise of simultaneous inclusion and exclusion provides a central problem for citizenship studies: How to understand exclusion without missing the way how new acts, performances and claims to political subjectivity are made possible in relation to and against citizenship. The Section includes theoretical and empirical contributions, which examine citizenship as a practice, concept, form of control, emotional assemblage and political subjectivity. The Section encourages discussions on the topical themes such as economic aspects of citizenship, inclusion and exclusion in education, citizenship (re)production and sexuality and the political culture of citizens and non-citizens. Section Chair: Postdoctoral researcher Katja Mäkinen. University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Convenor SG Citizenship. Research focus: citizenship, participation, identities, EU-policies on citizenship, culture and cultural heritage, policy documents, concepts. https://www.jyu.fi/hum/laitokset/taiku/en/euroherit/Research%20Team Section Co-Chair: Professor Trond Solhaug. Norwegian University of science and Technology. Co-convenor SG Citizenship. Research focus: democracy, citizenship in education & teacher education, participation, political identity and intercultural competence and integration in teacher education. http://www.ntnu.edu/employees/trond.solhaug