Constructing and contesting the good British citizen : an investigation of the contemporary citizenship regime as discursive practice
The last two decades have seen major interventions in naturalisation legislation across much of the âindustrialisedâ world, with successive UK administrations introducing and refining citizenship tests, language proficiency requirements, and ceremonial performances in an explicit bid to elevate the acquisition of citizen-status from a ârightâ to a âprivilegeâ (Home Office, 2013a). In this thesis, I draw on theorisations of the border as a geopolitical, a biopolitical, and a âneuropoliticalâ (Isin, 2004) phenomenon, and thus conceptualise these newly-instituted âcitizenisationâ (Fortier, 2017) processes as a political project, as part of an assemblage of bordering practices through which to heighten and manage the anxieties of the neurotic subject within the securitised state, and to realise the nation state in domopolitical terms as a home (Walters, 2004). While discourse researchers have certainly provided much important empirical insight into the strategies employed in contemporary citizenship documentation, and in the broader discursive contexts in which these citizenship regimes are situated (e.g. Wodak et al, 2009; LoÌwenheim and Gazit, 2009), I argue that the citizenship regime cannot
Lewis, Rachel F.
JN101 Great Britain
Constructing and contesting the good British citizen : an investigation of the contemporary citizenship regime as discursive practice. The last two decades have seen major interventions in naturalisation legislation across much of the âindustrialisedâ world, with successive UK administrations introducing and refining citizenship tests, language proficiency requirements, and ceremonial performances in an explicit bid to elevate the acquisition of citizen-status from a ârightâ to a âprivilegeâ (Home Office, 2013a). In this thesis, I draw on theorisations of the border as a geopolitical, a biopolitical, and a âneuropoliticalâ (Isin, 2004) phenomenon, and thus conceptualise these newly-instituted âcitizenisationâ (Fortier, 2017) processes as a political project, as part of an assemblage of bordering practices through which to heighten and manage the anxieties of the neurotic subject within the securitised state, and to realise the nation state in domopolitical terms as a home (Walters, 2004). While discourse researchers have certainly provided much important empirical insight into the strategies employed in contemporary citizenship documentation, and in the broader discursive contexts in which these citizenship regimes are situated (e.g. Wodak et al, 2009; LoÌwenheim and Gazit, 2009), I argue that the citizenship regime cannot
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