Multi-layered Citizenship and the Boundaries of the 'Nation-State'

Abstract

The paper argues that citizenship needs to be understood as a multi-layered construct, in which one's citizenship in collectivities in the different layers - local, ethnic, national, state, cross- or supra-stale - is affected and often a! least partly constructed by the relationships and positionings of each layer in specific historical contexts. This is of particular importance if we want to examine citizenship in a gendered non westocentric way. The paper explores some of the central issues which affect contemporary citizenships, in particular those relating to the construction of borders and boundaries.