Disputing citizenship

John Clarke, Kathleen Coll, Evelina Dagnino and Catherine Neveu

Policy Press at the University of Bristol

224 p.

70 £

Citizenship is always in dispute – in practice as well as in theory – but conventional perspectives do not address why the concept of citizenship is so contentious. This unique book presents a new perspective on citizenship by treating it as a continuing focus of dispute.The authors dispute the way citizenship is normally conceived and analysed within the social sciences, developing a view of citizenship as always emerging from struggle. This view is advanced through an exploration of the entanglements of politics, culture and power that are both embodied and contested in forms and practices of citizenship.

This compelling view of citizenship emerges from the international and interdisciplinary collaboration of the four authors, drawing on the diverse disputes over citizenship in their countries of origin (Brazil, France, the UK and the US). The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the field of citizenship, no matter what their geographical, political or academic location.

About This Book

“This book provides an innovative and critical approach to thinking about citizenship as a key word always in dispute, whose ethnographic orientation will appeal to many undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as to researchers.” Dr Aoileann Ní Mhurchú, University of Manchester

"A major contribution to critical thinking about citizenship that takes its political, contentious, and cultural aspects seriously and playfully, through brilliantly nuanced discussions."
Engin Isin, Professor of Citizenship, The Open University

Preface
Introduction
Recentering citizenship
Decentering citizenship
Imagining the ‘communities’ of citizenship
Conclusion: Disputing citizenship.

Disputing citizenship