Un/Making Citizenship: The Politics of the Intimate

Undergraduate / Graduate

The state is like a gravitational force that holds people in relation to itself, tugging and turning each person to different degrees. Citizenship is the mediation of that relationship. In this course, we examine different dimensions of citizenship across the life course, considering the ways people are formed into certain kinds of subjects. We ask: how and why are intimate life events of interest not only to those involved, but also to governing authorities? From the governance of conception and birth, to the (non)conferral of legal identities, the state manages legitimacy through documents like birth certificates, whose contents or absence can shape a person's entire life trajectory. In childhood, schools work to transform children into certain kinds of future citizens. From legal adulthood's gradual accrual of rights -- to vote, to have sex, to drink, to stand trial -- to old age and long after death, citizenship extends beyond the lifecourse. Over the course of the quarter, we investigate the ways people negotiate attempts to transform them into citizens, examining in particular how citizenship is mediated in relation to religion, sexuality, migration, disability, marriage, pregnancy, old age, and death.