Certifications of citizenship: the history, politics and materiality of identity documents in South Asian states and diasporas

Abstract

Experiences in the post-partition Indian subcontinent refute the conventional expectation that the 'possession of citizenship enables the acquisition of documents certifying it' [Jayal 2013. Citizenship and Its Discontents: An Indian History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 71]. Instead, identity papers of various types play a vital part in certifying and authenticating claims to citizenship. This is particularly important in a context where the history of state formation, continuous migration flows and the rise of right-wing majoritarian politics has created an uncertain situation for individuals deemed to be on the 'margins' of the state. The papers that constitute this special issue bring together a range of disciplinary perspectives in order to investigate the history, politics and materiality of identity documents, and to dismantle citizenship as an absolute and fixed notion, seeking instead to theorise the very mutable 'hierarchies' and 'degrees' of citizenship. Collectively they offer a valuable lens onto how migrants, refugees and socioeconomically marginal individuals negotiate their relationship with the state, both within South Asia and in South Asian diaspora communities. This introduction examines the wider context of the complex intersections between state-issued identity documents and the nature of citizenship and draws out cross-cutting themes across the papers in this collection.

COVID-19 immunity (or vaccine) passports: a documentary overview and analysis of regimes of health verification within the coronavirus pandemic

“…Individuals' official identities are unverifiable when they are not or cannot be formally categorized and, as a result, cannot be formally documented. Identity documents, as Vasudha Chhotray and Fiona McConnel explain, facilitate “the flow of assorted benefits that come with [state] recognition” they also “render invisible particular groups by denying them [that same] documentation” (Chhotray and McConnel, 2018, p. 118). In this sense, it is often with and through identity documents that “the vagaries of state bureaucracies are felt with full force and the hierarchies of [those included in the state's official identity categories] and [their] denial generate everyday hardships” (Chhotray and McConnell, 2018, p. 121).…”

“…Official identities, documentation, governments and verification are, therefore, intimately interconnected. In significant ways, it could “even be argued that [identity documents] make the state, due to their centrality to bureaucratic processes of government” (Chhotray and McConnell, 2018, p. 117). When governments categorize and document individuals according to their official identities, individuals become identified and identifiable according to the Governments' needs or purposes.…”

Transnational Lived Citizenship – The Case of the Eritrean Diaspora

“…Current debates on materiality and citizenship mostly highlight how states increasingly exert power over their citizens through a set of technical tools or concrete demands in exchange for documents, certifications, and the verification of identity papers. The work of Carswell and De Neve, 2020, for example, discusses paperwork and patronage in Tamil Nadu, while the study of Chhotray and McConnell, 2018 analyses the certification of citizenship used by South Asian states to identify their diaspora members. Another interesting field of multi-disciplinary research concerns the role of material infrastructures to control, segregate, and recognise different groups of citizens from others (Anand, 2017;Diouf and Fredericks, 2014).…”

“NRC se Azadi”: Process, Chronology, and a Paper Monster

“…The question of establishing authentic proof in the form of trustworthy documents becomes particularly intense when they are dealing with IDs or any form of documentation that confers some entitlement or benefit to citizens (e.g. Singha 2009, Chottray andMcConnell 2018).…”