Citizenship tests are much more than tests. They often represent forms of ‘linguistic borders’ to be negotiated. Drawing on a decade of work in this area, Dr Kamran Khan will theorise how these borders function beyond their educational role. Furthermore, he will use the concept of ‘becoming’ as a means to centre the individual and... Continue Reading →
IRIS Conversations on Migration, Citizenship and Coloniality
The programme of IRiS seminar series is out. We are hosting three exciting conversations with internationally renown scholars in the field. The seminars are free and open. Please email a.bolstridge@bham.ac.uk to reserve a place. We look forward to seeing many of you at the seminars! 24 October, 3.30-5pm, Gisbert Kapp, room 224 Thinking decoloniality through an... Continue Reading →
Brexit and the practice of citizenship: new episode of Conversations with Iris (#32)
To mark the 6th anniversary of the 2016 Brexit referendum we spoke with Dr Djordje Sredanovic (Free University of Brussels), author of Implementing Citizenship, Nationality and Integration. In this analysis, Sredanovic compares and contrasts the experiences of citizenship and integration policies in the UK and Belgium. In-depth interviews with officials show both the everyday application... Continue Reading →
Generation 2.0 in Greece: conversation on citizenship and belonging
Anna Papoutsi talks to Natani Petros about identity and belonging among second generation individuals of African decent in Athens (Greece). We discuss the experience of growing up under a citizenship regime that is based on jus sanguinis, meaning that nationality is determined by the nationality of the parents and not the place of birth (jus... Continue Reading →
My escape from COVID-19: Turkey’s emergency return programme for Turkish citizens abroad
By Bircan Ciytak (PhD student, University of Birmingham) On April 15, 2020, the Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that, as part of the Covid-19 return program, around 25 thousand Turkish citizens from 70 countries, the majority of whom are students, were flown back to Turkey and kept in quarantine upon arrival for 14 days... Continue Reading →
Windrush generation is not alone – children of EU citizens could be next
by Nando Sigona, Deputy IRiS Director, University of Birmingham Theresa May, the UK prime minister, and Amber Rudd, home secretary, have both apologised for the distress caused by the treatment of the so-called “Windrush generation”, in the face of mounting pressure from MPs and the wider public. Having been accused by the Home Office of residing in the UK without... Continue Reading →
From mobile citizens to migrants: joint event at the British Library
This event, organised by Eurochildren and BrExpats and sponsored by The UK in a Changing Europe initiative, is free and open to the public but registration is required via Eventbrite
Thousands of children of EU parents at risk of falling through the cracks of Brexit, IRiS-led study reveals
Thousands EU citizens and their family members living in the UK under EU law are at risk of ‘falling through the cracks’, with their rights of future residence in question after Brexit, Eurochildren researchers say. In two Eurochildren Research Briefs published today on the impact of the UK-EU agreement on residence and citizenship rights for EU families,... Continue Reading →
New book: Within and beyond citizenship
Edited by IRiS deputy director Nando Sigona and Harvard professor Roberto G. Gonzales, Within and Beyond Citizenship offers critical and ethnographically vivid perspectives on the migration and citizenship nexus. We are pleased to share the Introduction (pdf) to Within & beyond citizenship: Borders, membership and belonging. Gonzales and Sigona offer their thoughts and insights for new direction... Continue Reading →
Citizenship, rights and deservingness – new issue of the American Behavioral Scientist journal
IRiS Nando Sigona has edited a collection of essays on citizenship, undocumented status and youth with Roberto Gonzales of Harvard University and Edelina M Burciaga of the University of Colorado at Denver. The American Behavioral Scientist issue draws on contributions to a symposium organised at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Fall 2013 and... Continue Reading →

