The Specter of Potential Foreigners : Revisiting the Postcolonial Citizenship Regimes of Myanmar and India
(2024) In Critical Asian Studies- Abstract
- Revisiting the citizenship regimes of Myanmar and India through a comparative lens, this article argues that a specter of the “potential foreigner” is decisive in the adjudication of citizenship in both countries. Citizenship is conceptualized not only on the basis of who is a citizen, but a perennial suspicion towards those who may not be. We frame this argument in the context of increasingly restrictive atmospheres in both countries, epitomized by violence towards the Rohingya in Myanmar and the Citizenship Amendment Act in India. This paper employs an historical perspective, tracing the evolution of citizenship since the partitions of Burma and Pakistan from India. It interrogates the very notion of foreignness that is embedded in these... (More)
- Revisiting the citizenship regimes of Myanmar and India through a comparative lens, this article argues that a specter of the “potential foreigner” is decisive in the adjudication of citizenship in both countries. Citizenship is conceptualized not only on the basis of who is a citizen, but a perennial suspicion towards those who may not be. We frame this argument in the context of increasingly restrictive atmospheres in both countries, epitomized by violence towards the Rohingya in Myanmar and the Citizenship Amendment Act in India. This paper employs an historical perspective, tracing the evolution of citizenship since the partitions of Burma and Pakistan from India. It interrogates the very notion of foreignness that is embedded in these discourses, through a detailed description of the religious, ethnic, racial, and administrative "other" etched in the legislative and socio-political fabric of both countries. In order to develop the idea of potential foreigner as a key element of national identity and citizenship policy, the paper examines crucial legislation over the last three-quarters of a century, and the consequences of linking narrowing definitions of ethno-national belonging to citizenship status. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/09a20a4e-5f84-473b-85af-3cf5aa317303
- author
- Rhoads, Elizabeth LU and Das, Ritanjan
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-04-25
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- potential foreigner, postcolonial citizenship, Myanmar, India, partition
- in
- Critical Asian Studies
- pages
- 29 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85191254051
- ISSN
- 1467-2715
- DOI
- 10.1080/14672715.2024.2340996
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 09a20a4e-5f84-473b-85af-3cf5aa317303
- date added to LUP
- 2024-04-07 13:01:35
- date last changed
- 2024-05-07 15:01:15
@article{09a20a4e-5f84-473b-85af-3cf5aa317303,
abstract = {{Revisiting the citizenship regimes of Myanmar and India through a comparative lens, this article argues that a specter of the “potential foreigner” is decisive in the adjudication of citizenship in both countries. Citizenship is conceptualized not only on the basis of who is a citizen, but a perennial suspicion towards those who may not be. We frame this argument in the context of increasingly restrictive atmospheres in both countries, epitomized by violence towards the Rohingya in Myanmar and the Citizenship Amendment Act in India. This paper employs an historical perspective, tracing the evolution of citizenship since the partitions of Burma and Pakistan from India. It interrogates the very notion of foreignness that is embedded in these discourses, through a detailed description of the religious, ethnic, racial, and administrative "other" etched in the legislative and socio-political fabric of both countries. In order to develop the idea of potential foreigner as a key element of national identity and citizenship policy, the paper examines crucial legislation over the last three-quarters of a century, and the consequences of linking narrowing definitions of ethno-national belonging to citizenship status.}},
author = {{Rhoads, Elizabeth and Das, Ritanjan}},
issn = {{1467-2715}},
keywords = {{potential foreigner; postcolonial citizenship; Myanmar; India; partition}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{04}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Critical Asian Studies}},
title = {{The Specter of Potential Foreigners : Revisiting the Postcolonial Citizenship Regimes of Myanmar and India}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2024.2340996}},
doi = {{10.1080/14672715.2024.2340996}},
year = {{2024}},
}