Removing the Right to Have Rights

By Nisha Kapoor

Volume 15, Issue 1, pages 105-110

Introduction

Since the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2002 came into force, it is estimated that at least fifty‐three people have been stripped of their British citizenship, with forty‐eight of these cases occurring since 2010 under the coalition government (Galey and Ross 2014). In 2006, legislation was passed to make possible the removal of citizenship from someone if it was deemed that to do so would be ‘conducive to the public good’ (Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, 56(1)), and last year a new clause was approved which effectively means naturalized Britons can be made stateless if there are ‘reasonable grounds for believing’ citizenship can be acquired from another country (Immigration Act 2014, 66(1)). Essentially what we have witnessed since the beginning of the twenty‐first century is the gradual extension of state powers to remove citizenship, where the premise upon which it can be withdrawn has become more and more expansive and the fundamental rights which it provides for have become ever more precarious.

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The Politics of Identity and Mimetic Constructions in the Philippine Transnational Experience

By Sharon Orig

Volume 6, Issue 1, pages 49-68

Abstract

As Filipinos traverse transnational space, the Filipino ethnic identity becomes enmeshed in a politics of identity. Filipinos witness how their identities are eroded, subordinated and, sometimes, corrupted. Identity politics relegates Filipinos to second‐class citizens whenever other nationalities view Filipinos as racially inferior or as they sexualise and objectify the Filipino image. Racial prejudice at large may lead Filipinos to expunge their own ethnic identity and crave for an identity that is not their own. Identity issues are therefore relevant to Filipino migration. When reflecting on identity politics, it is crucial to consider the unique experiences relevant to a people’s race and nationality. Literature has the capacity to take snapshots of the ethnic and nationalistic experience and transpose them into creative writing. These writings inevitably reflect the interplay of politics, nationalism, and ethnic identity in the migrant experience. Migration narratives thus become important in unearthing the identity politics that transpire on a global scale. This paper describes some of the issues concerning Filipino ethnic identity in global transnationalism as established from three contemporary narratives.

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Strategies of Constructing Social Identities in conflict‐Ridden Areas: The Case of Young Jews, Arabs and Palestinians

By Dahlia Moore and Salem Aweiss

Volume 7, Issue 1, pages 2-26

Abstract

Combining several social‐psychological and sociological perspectives to examine the relative importance of diverse social identity components in Israeli and Palestinian societies, this study uses identity as a key concept in understanding how diverse social orders can simultaneously exist within a single societal entity. Analysing a sample of over 3,800 Jewish, Arab, and Palestinian high school students we find that family identity is the most salient among Jews and Arabs today, while the civic (Palestinian) identity is the most salient among Palestinians. Moreover, each social identity entails a different attitudinal and demographic profile. The findings seem to indicate that the value systems (according to which the collective is more important than the individual) that prevailed among Jews in Israel in the state’s formative years are declining, while such value systems are currently prevalent in Palestinian society. Implications for the conflict between the two societies are also discussed.

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Bound from Head to Toe: The Sari as an Expression of Gendered National Identity

By Shauna Wilton

Volume 12, Issue 1, pages 190-205

Abstract

This article explores the clothing choices of Indian women and the relationship between clothing and the construction of the nation in contemporary India. Building on the existing literature on nationalism, combined with feminist and cultural studies approaches, the article uses interviews with young Indian women as an entry point into exploring the symbolic role of women and the sari within Indian nationalism. In doing so, this article questions to what extent choosing what to wear is an example of choosing the nation, whether it is a free and conscious choice, and whether it is appropriate to see these choices as constitutive of national identity or merely ornamental. In conclusion, I argue that something as ordinary as choosing what to wear has the potential to undermine dominant discourses surrounding the nation. While choosing to wear the sari does not always reflect a conscious choosing of the Indian nation, the clothing choices of Indian women do allow them to navigate complex social and cultural identities in their everyday lives and reflect the importance of the ‘everyday’ within theorising and explaining the construction and maintenance of nations.

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CosmoPoles: A Mixed‐methods Study on the European Identity of Higher‐educated Polish Youth

By Jeroen Moes

Volume 9, Issue 3, pages 429-451

Abstract

Through the combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses, this study investigates the extent to which a European identity has emerged across Europe and what it means to ‘be European’ for higher‐educated Polish youth. The results of a quantitative comparative analysis (multilevel regression analysis on Eurobarometer survey data) are complemented by the results from a qualitative inquiry that was conducted within the framework of the same research project. It is argued that national and European political identifications are not mutually exclusive but rather seem to complement each other (both quantitatively and qualitatively). It is further argued that mixed‐methods research designs offer a promising approach to the study of collective identities and Europeanisation.

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