Theorizing Acts of Citizenship
Theorizing Acts of Citizenship was written by Elgin Isin as the first chapter of Acts of Citizenship (Isin, Greg M. Nielsen, 2008).
In the context of modern social change (e.g., globalization, etc.) there has emerged a public dialogue about novel forms of citizenship (e.g., "...'intimate citizenship', 'multicultural citizenship', 'sexual citizenship', 'transgendered citizenship', 'consumer citizenship', 'cosmopolitan citizenship', or 'ecological citizenship'.") This demonstrates that an element of citizenship is not status but habitus.
The author analyzes acts that lead to claiming of citizenship.
- They necessarily disrupt the status quo. Need a change (to the status quo) to cause a change (to citizenship).
- They necessarily are a dialogue across polities. Citizenship is always defined by an in-group and out-group.
Reading Notes
This lays the groundwork for Performative Citizenship.
There is then significant prevarication about what an 'act' is, as compared to an 'action' or a 'conduct' or a 'practice'. If I ever develop an interest in ontology... which I doubt... maybe start here.