Nation, Nationality, Coloniality- Evolution of Citizenship into a ‘Club Good’ in South Asia

Abstract

The analysis of what it means to be a citizen requires prior reflection on what constitutes a country itself, and how the idea has evolved with time, the borders ironically calcifying in an increasingly globalised world. Are countries mere geographical jurisdictions created for administrative convenience? Is citizenship indeed just a legal status to most people? The paper attempts to evaluate whether citizenship's existence itself depends on it being a club good, offering privileges through exclusion, becoming what Ayelet Shachar calls ‘the birthright lottery’ in her eponymous book (2009). Contrarily, citizenship to many, especially in South Asia, is much more than material guarantees. It cannot exactly be reduced to a commodity, as it often embodies a plethora of significations. It is this extra-legal aspect that is affected by the dominant cultural identity of a country. In India, it translates into attempts to identify the most Indian among all Indians, questions of linguistic superiority, indigeneity, religious identity, etc. For the South Asian diaspora, it is evident in the experiences of political leaders like Rishi Sunak and Vivek Ramaswamy, whose Indianness is an impediment, especially while appealing to the ‘political right’ of their respective countries. Thus, this phenomenon transcends class as even the privileged cannot buy into the ‘club’ of this metaphysical citizenship. The statelessness of the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, a section of Indians after Assam NRC, or the more than 120, 000 Japanese-Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbour, raises the question of whether national identity is indeed something absolute if it can be so abruptly revoked. Expanding on Shachar’s suggestion to move beyond the false binary of ‘abolishing’ and ‘resurrecting’ borders, the paper explores national identity in South Asian nations which lacks the homogeneity that still defines many countries.