Britishness, Belonging and Citizenship

Abstract

Policy Press uses environmentally responsible print partners Contents Acknowledgements iv Preface vi one Introduction to trends and concepts in British citizenship 1 two British citizenship and migration in stories 23 three A folkloric account of citizenship and belonging 37 four Myths and legends: stories of struggles and disappointment 77 five A few fairy tales? Stories of success six And they lived happily ever after? Some conclusions … Notes References Index III PrefaceBritishness, belonging and citizenship: Experiencing nationality law is a book about the lives of migrants who become British citizens (termed migrant-citizens for ease of reference in this book) drawn from their life stories. What do their experiences reveal about the links between citizenship and belonging? How does the process of applying for British citizenship affect those who make applications? How can the experience be improved for future applicants for British citizenship? Seeking to connect the sociological with the legal, the book presents some urgent considerations for reform.Most migrant-citizens migrated as strangers to this land and then resided for a long period of time to become British citizens. They exemplify 'the stranger' idealised by prolific sociological and philosophical thinker Georg Simmel (1971) in his eponymous essay. Simmel (1971, p 143) writes about the resident stranger as 'not … the wanderer who comes today and goes tomorrow, but rather as the person who comes today and stays tomorrow'. These strangers are relative newcomers to the land but are not transient visitors. They are successful in entering legally and fulfilling all requirements for acquiring citizenship over time.This book is a quest for untold stories. With the exception of research on citizenship ceremonies (for example, Byrne, 2014), there is little on record about the experiences of citizenship processes and the meaning of citizenship for those who successfully undertake the journey. Lawyers generally lose contact with successful applicants.

Refugee Belonging: How Values and Value Consensus Between Refugees and German Citizens Are Associated with Feeling Welcome and Spending Time Together

“…For most of these stances and feelings, social and cultural categories are deemed essential (Pfaff-Czarnecka 2013). For example, some existing research has emphasized the importance of legal and socio-cultural factors for belonging, for instance, citizenship (Krzyzanowski and Wodak 2007;Sicakkan and Lithman 2005), nationality (Prabhat 2018), and ethnic identity (Antonsich 2010), whereas other research has emphasized the "politics of belonging" that frame these categories (Yuval-Davis, Anthias, and Kofman 2005).…”

The (in)significance of citizenship in white British citizens’ narratives of national belonging

“…Within the fields of migration and citizenship studies, there have been several efforts to show how citizenship is experienced by naturalised, naturalising and/or racialised migrants and citizens (Bennett 2018, Birkvad 2019, Blackwood et al 2015, Byrne 2012, Erdal et al 2018, Fortier, 2021, Hagelund and Reegård 2011, Pogonyi 2019, Prabhat 2018. While much of this work suggests that established communities and 'mainstream' society affect individuals' feelings of belonging, there has been limited comparable research on how citizenship is understood by dominant and/or majoritised groups, and what this means for how they recognise others as citizens and/or nationals (though see Akinci 2020, Erdal et al 2018.…”

Coloniality, Belonging and Citizenship Deprivation in the UK: Exploring Judicial Responses

“… 1. Prabhat's work stands out as particularly instrumental in this regard. See Prabhat (2016a, 2016b, 2018, 2019). …”