Search Results

Jim Crow Reform and the Rebirth of Black Political Citizenship

Kimberley Johnson

in Reforming Jim Crow: Southern Politics and State in the Age Before Brown

This chapter explores how southern African Americans' quest for social citizenship dovetailed with their renewed insistence on the restoration of their political citizenship. Education politics and ... More

This chapter explores how southern African Americans' quest for social citizenship dovetailed with their renewed insistence on the restoration of their political citizenship. Education politics and the managed race relations of Jim Crow reform had created and sustained a dense network of organizations and institutions, including civic groups and voters' leagues, led by and for African Americans. The presence of these institutions and organizations did not presume unanimity; sharp disagreements remained within the African American community over tactics and goals.Less

Political and Social Citizenship: An Examination Of the Case Of Poland

Jacqueline Heinen and Stéphane Portet

in Gender Justice, Development, and Rights

This chapter examines the difference in the status of men and women in Poland, based on the legal changes affecting employment, reproduction, and political representation. It covers the different ... More

This chapter examines the difference in the status of men and women in Poland, based on the legal changes affecting employment, reproduction, and political representation. It covers the different types of rights, the continuity/restructuring of the public-private relationship, new citizenship opportunities and increased marginalization of women, inequalities in the right to work, unemployment and limitations on social rights, prohibition of abortion, and the impact of European integration on equal rights between men and women.Less

Democratization for the White South

Kimberley Johnson

in Reforming Jim Crow: Southern Politics and State in the Age Before Brown

This chapter shows how the struggle to reshape the southern state would lead to a new struggle for political citizenship for whites. Guided by their belief that the root of the South's problems was ... More

This chapter shows how the struggle to reshape the southern state would lead to a new struggle for political citizenship for whites. Guided by their belief that the root of the South's problems was economic inequality, southern New Dealers began a drive to re-enfranchise the South's whites through an attack on the poll tax. Though not the most fundamental problem of the South's variety of discriminatory voting practices, the poll tax was the one that was most widespread, and strategically it was the one that seemed to harm whites the most. Some reformers embraced poll tax reform as a reflection of white privilege that was wrongfully withheld; others saw it as the means to other ends. For many New Deal southern liberals the goal of poll tax reform was the enfranchisement of a huge pool of have-not whites, who in turn would “naturally” support New Deal-friendly politicians in their struggle against the South's conservative elites.Less

Political participation

Michael Lister

in Citizenship in Contemporary Europe

A range of contemporary European societies have witnessed a decline in formal political participation. In many countries, turnout at elections, and membership of political parties and trade unions is ... More

A range of contemporary European societies have witnessed a decline in formal political participation. In many countries, turnout at elections, and membership of political parties and trade unions is in decline. Yet there seem to be counter trends, with an increase in activist political participation (marches and demonstrations). In this chapter we will examine these developments to assess how citizens in contemporary Europe express themselves politically, and investigate whether declining engagement with formal politics should be seen as a problem for citizenship. To a large extent, the answer to this question depends upon how one views citizenship theoretically.Less

Active Citizenship: Multiculturalism and Mutual Understanding

Dina Kiwan

in Active Citizenship: What Could it Achieve and How?

This chapter examines the meaning of multiculturalism and its bearing on two related areas of citizenship policy: citizenship education in schools and naturalisation policy. It explores the idea of ... More

This chapter examines the meaning of multiculturalism and its bearing on two related areas of citizenship policy: citizenship education in schools and naturalisation policy. It explores the idea of political citizenship from a multicultural standpoint and argues that the ‘glue’ holding together the three strands of citizenship education — political literacy, social and moral responsibility, and community involvement — is public participation based on appropriate learned knowledge and skills. It also contends that active participation requires citizens not simply to be secure in their personal identities but for these to be related to, and reflected in, the larger community. Moreover, it considers the proposal that ‘identity and diversity: living together in the United Kingdom’ be added as a fourth strand to the ‘key concepts’ in the citizenship curriculum alongside ‘democracy and justice’, ‘rights and responsibilities’ and ‘critical thinking’.Less

Historical perspectives

Lister Ruth, Williams Fiona, Anttonen Anneli, Bussemaker Jet, Gerhard Ute, Heinen Jacqueline, Johansson Stina, Leira Arnlaug, Siim Birte, Tobio Constanza, and Gavanas Anna

in Gendering citizenship in Western Europe: New challenges for citizenship research in a cross-national context

This chapter takes a historical perspective so as to contextualise citizenship through elaboration of its legal and theoretical roots. After introducing the terminology of the legal tradition and the ... More

This chapter takes a historical perspective so as to contextualise citizenship through elaboration of its legal and theoretical roots. After introducing the terminology of the legal tradition and the models of the modern concept of citizenship, it then describes the delays and the impediments to women's citizenship in the different dimensions of political, civil, and social citizenship rights. Additionally, the role played by feminist interventions in opening up citizenship to women is explained. Different models of citizenship regimes are the background to the gendered understanding and experience of citizenship. Women's equal citizenship was not only delayed but impeded as long as possible. It is also noted that the interplay and interdependence of the three dimensions of citizenship – political, civil, and social – is crucial for the agency of the individual and for a democratic practice.Less

“Becoming Visible”: Italian Women and Their Male Co-Citizens in the Liberal State

Sabina Donati (ed.)

in A Political History of National Citizenship and Identity in Italy, 1861-1950

“Becoming Visible”: Italian Women and Their Male Co-Citizens in the Liberal State

Marxism and Its Others

Catherine Hall

in Marxist History-writing for the Twenty-first Century

This chapter is written from the perspective of a historian trying to comprehend the complexities of the nineteenth-century societies and to use those conceptual theories that would define the many ... More

This chapter is written from the perspective of a historian trying to comprehend the complexities of the nineteenth-century societies and to use those conceptual theories that would define the many layers of the social, cultural, and political world. In the absence of Marxism, there has been a tendency to lose interest in the large-scale changes and to resort to micro-histories. A return to Marx is therefore needed to understand how change occurs in the relation between key categories of difference. And while Marx may not have full answers to the questions on the logic of capital and class antagonisms, he nevertheless initiated questions on agency and change. The focus of the chapter is on the United Kingdom and its empire from 1828 to 1833. This was a period when political citizenship and forms of rule at home and across the empire were reassessed; when the forms of conservative aristocratic rule in Britain and the colonies were ruptured; and when the new vision of the nation and the empire was introduced. In all of the places ruled by the UK, emphasis is placed on Ireland, Britain, Jamaica, and India, including Westminster, which is the seat of the British government. Each of the cases is dealt with extensively, with stress on ethnicity, class, race, and gender. All of these cases are examined within the framework of Marxism, wherein the salience of the theory is measured on its capacity to address issues of differences.Less

Youth unemployment, welfare and political participation: a comparative study of six countries

Torild Hammer

in Changing labour markets, welfare policies and citizenship

This chapter discusses the relationship between welfare regimes and political participation among unemployed youth to determine whether a more generous financial support constitutes a resource of ... More

This chapter discusses the relationship between welfare regimes and political participation among unemployed youth to determine whether a more generous financial support constitutes a resource of participation, or whether dependency is associated with political passitivity and alienation. In this chapter, the Marshallian analyses of citizen's rights are used as a basis. His analyses form the basis for the analysis of full civil, political and social citizenship. The analysis presented in this chapter is conducted on the basis of a six nation comparative study of unemployed youth and compares, across two welfare regimes, the Scandinavian and the more residual British systems.Less

“¿De Dónde Somos?” “¡De Bolivia!”

Megan Ryburn

in Uncertain Citizenship: Everyday Practices of Bolivian Migrants in Chile

This chapter provides a fresh angle on migration and political citizenship—emphasis has often been placed on migrants’ formal political practices (i.e., voting) or informal political practices that ... More

This chapter provides a fresh angle on migration and political citizenship—emphasis has often been placed on migrants’ formal political practices (i.e., voting) or informal political practices that fall more within Global North concepts of “the political” (i.e., union participation). The Bolivian migrants in Chile in this study did not generally engage in these kinds of practices. An account of ethnographic research with the migrant dance fraternity Corazón de Tinkus reveals, however, the ways in which performing Bolivian carnival dances in public spaces in Chile can be read as a transnational citizenship practice within the realm of the political. So, while they were excluded from political citizenship in the sense in which it is often understood, dancing in public spaces—accompanied by the cry “¿De dónde somos? ¡De Bolivia!” (“Where’re we from? From Bolivia!”)—allowed migrants a politicized means of expressing their hope of greater future inclusion across borders.Less

Federal Student Aid and the Gender Dynamics of Political Citizenship

Deondra Rose

in Citizenship By Degree: U.S. Higher Education Policy and the Changing Gender Dynamics of American Citizenship

Chapter 7 investigates the feedback effects of federal higher education policies on women’s capacity and inclination to participate in politics. This analysis suggests that federal student aid ... More

Chapter 7 investigates the feedback effects of federal higher education policies on women’s capacity and inclination to participate in politics. This analysis suggests that federal student aid programs have played a role in the declining gender gap in political engagement that we have seen in the last fifty years. By providing valuable resources that significantly increase the probability that beneficiaries will attain higher levels of education, broad-reaching financial aid policies have contributed to significant increases in women’s political interest, political efficacy, and involvement in political activities. Not only do federal higher education policies help to realize the promise of full and equal citizenship by promoting political engagement among a group that has traditionally been underrepresented in mass politics, but also they provide lessons for how the state can successfully use social policy to promote equality in terms of political citizenship.Less

The Politics of Early African American Literature

Gene Andrew Jarrett

in Representing the Race: A New Political History of African American Literature

This chapter looks at the debate between Thomas Jefferson and David Walker—an African American author—over whether New World African intellectual culture should be an entrance examination to the ... More

This chapter looks at the debate between Thomas Jefferson and David Walker—an African American author—over whether New World African intellectual culture should be an entrance examination to the early American polity. It provides a reading of Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia and its 1829 critique, David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America. In Notes, Jefferson's dismissal of the ability of blacks to reason and imagine, and then to produce exceptional literature, was so reprehensible that subsequent generations of black writers sought to refute it. Indeed, Walker attempts to debunk Jefferson's prescription of reason and imagination for political citizenship by taking advantage of his membership in an educated black elite whose broad grasp of Western history and whose access to the resources of print culture enhanced its authority in the public sphere.Less

National Incompletion: Awkward Multiculturalisms and Denaturalizing Whiteness

Christine Kim

in The Minor Intimacies of Race: Asian Publics in North America

This chapter examines how the figure of the Asian is currently positioned within the project of Canadian multiculturalism in order to discern how differently racialized bodies experience affective ... More

This chapter examines how the figure of the Asian is currently positioned within the project of Canadian multiculturalism in order to discern how differently racialized bodies experience affective and political citizenship. It critiques the assumption that Asian Canadian publics demand recognition in multicultural terms by turning to two contemporary Asian Canadian texts that explore the unfinished nature of these conversations about race: Theatre Replacement's 2007 production, Bioboxes, and Joy Kogawa's 1995 novel, The Rain Ascends. These texts, as they call for intimacy, demand recognition in different ways: the first forces the audience to be physically conscious of the racialized body with which it shares a confined space, and the second uses the genre of the confessional novel to compel the reader to witness the most mundane and personal details of the narrator's story.Less