Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

This paper will focus on nationalism and citizenship in the twenty-first century. Amidst current retreats into imagined ideas of national homogeneity there is a crisis that calls into question ideas of the citizen amidst the rhetoric of immigrant/migrant, alien, illegal, stranger, and the other. The political and cultural implications of this rhetoric echo long-standing colonial and postcolonial dynamics on otherness which are spurring distinct problems on belonging and affiliation as the well-worn adages of tolerance and assimilation remain entirely inadequate. The rise of nationalism and xenophobia can then be seen as a source which perpetuates conflict and the marginalization of those perceived as other based on racism and religious/ethnic discrimination, when indeed those seen as others are citizens of the very same country. My methods of inquiry will incorporate philosophical, cultural, and literary analyses through a cross-cultural and transnational lens. The implications of this paper will raise manners in which to re-think human affiliation and belonging in calling for a radical examination on national culture and the dilemmas of nationalism and citizenship in the twenty-first century.