Citizenship as (In)Equality

In this upper-level undergraduate discussion seminar, we will investigate how notions of citizenship have developed, structured the relations between modern states and their populations, and shaped material and symbolic inequalities. How do states define who is a citizen and what citizenship means and entails? How are these definitions entangled with broader social forces and structures? How does citizenship establish (and disrupt) social boundaries based on class, race, and gender? We will tackle these and other questions by looking at multiple regional contexts, not only comparing different places as individual units but also recognizing how global capitalism and imperialism make them interconnected. While we will rely primarily on sociological literature, we will also draw from the work of political scientists, anthropologists, historians, and legal scholars.