I am thrilled to announce that I will be giving a talk at the CITIZENSHIP ACROSS BORDERS conference in Strasbourg at the Palais Universitaire Salle Pasteur (full programme for anyone interested in attending below). I will be speaking in Panel 1 Citizenship as a construction: Language, Literature and Perceptions at 13h30. My talk is titled: " Under Flag: Language and (Unattainable) Homogenization in the Era of Postnational Citizenship" and it is about the multilingual writings and performances of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Craig Santos Perez, Bhanu Kapil and Myung Mi Kim.
Abstract for my talk;
As definitions of nationality and citizenship develop and change, one of the unifying methods of assembling a people under one flag has continued to be language. Language tests have become a component of Nationality exams in France and other European States. Perception of poor reading or writing skills in the language of the country one is attempting to officially migrate into has even lead to the revocation of temporary asylum and national status. Defining nation and citizen based on language is even more highly problematic within the USA, where there has never been an official National Language. This talk will explore how this complex, highly fallacious method of calling a people a people, unified under the umbrella of language, has been radically deplored and deftly criticized within later 20th century and early 21st century experimental poetry and poetics, especially in the writings of marginalized and immigrant populations of the United States, from immigrants Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's and Myung Mi Kim’s books to USA native of Guam, Craig Santos Perez’s 4-book cycle from Unincorporated Territory. These authors, like Bhanu Kapil who I will also speak about, in inspiring, emblematic works, have quietly been lobbying through marginalized, often invisible poetic practices for non-binary existences, for new ways to say “I belong”, “I am here”, methods of recognizing the root relationship between language (as spoken and written) in attaining a post-national state of citizenship.
These works are a reckoning and recognition of linguistic and cultural otherness within perceived unified nations. As such, exploration and study of these authors provide essential tools for deeper reflections on notions of citizenship and nationality in our increasingly globalized world.
Organized by
University of Strasbourg – Syracuse University
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University
Université de Strasbourg, DRES National Centre for Scientific Research UMR 7354
Syracuse Abroad and the Syracuse Strasbourg Center
20-21 October 2022
Strasbourg
October 20th Thursday
Université de Strasbourg, Palais Universitaire, Salle Pasteur
9h00-9h15 Welcome in the Aula of the University Palace
9h30 Opening: Carol Faulkner / Samim Akgönül
Welcome address: Erika Wilkens (Syracuse Abroad) / Vincente Fortier (DRES research center)
Raymond Bach (Syracuse Strasbourg Center)
10h45
Keynote: Elizabeth Cohen, Syracuse University: Citizenship Across Generations
12h00 Lunch break sponsored by DRES Research Center
Restaurant « la Victoire », 24 Quai des Pêcheurs, 67000 Strasbourg
13h30 Panel 1
Citizenship as a construction: Language, Literature and Perceptions
Chair: Samim Akgönül
Dympna Callaghan, Syracuse University: “Poor citizen, distressed”: Shakespeare and the Citizen
Jennifer K. Dick, University of Haute Alsace: Under Flag: Language and (Unattainable) Homogenization in the Era of Postnational Citizenship
Subhasree Ghosh, University of Calcutta, From Subjects to Citizens: ‘Constructing’ Citizenship in Post-Colonial India, 1947-1955
15h00-15h15 Coffee Break
15h15 Panel 2
Post-ottoman nationhood and citizenship
Chair: Seth Jolly
Samim Akgӧnül, University of Strasbourg: Why immigrants vote? External vote of Turks in Europe and loyalty concerns
Yunus Sözen, LeMoyne College: Pro-immigration Right-Wing Authoritarian Populism: Redefining Nation and Citizenship in Turkey
Inci Öykü Yener-Roderburg, University of Essen-Duisburg: Non-voter remote refugee partisanship: Evidence from the non-voter Kurds for the Turkish Elections in Germany
16h45-17h00 coffee break
17h00 Panel 3
Legal citizenship: roots and mutations
Chair: John J. Goodman
Chris R. Kyle, Syracuse University: Birthright Naturalization Law: An English Historical Perspective
Andres Sanchez-Padilla, Centro Universitario de la Defensa de Zaragoza: Defining the Rules of Naturalization: Sovereignty, Citizenship, and U.S.-Spanish Relations (1868-1884)
Dalia Abdelhady, Lund University, and Amy Lutz, Syracuse University: Lived Citizenship among the Children of North African Immigrants
18h30 Break before Dinner
19h30 Conference dinner sponsored by the Maxwell School,
Restaurant “Au pont Saint Martin” 15 Rue des Moulins, 67000 Strasbourg
October 21st Friday
Syracuse University Strasbourg Center, Room 202/203
19 Quai Rouget de Lisle
8h30-9h00 Welcome and coffee
9h00 Panel 4
Challenges of Immigration between Africa and Europe
Chair: Mary Boyington
Seth Jolly, Syracuse University: Immigration as the Key Structuring Issue of Party Politics in Europe
Kishauna Soljour, San Diego State University: Afrique Sur Seine: Sub-Saharan African Migration and Acculturation in France
John Goodman, Syracuse University Strasbourg Center: Citizenship as a Mirage: Diplomatic Challenges and Suspended Citizenship in the Sahel
10h30-10h045 coffee break
10h45 Panel 5
Citizenship and identity: Gender and Social Movements
Chair: Carol Faulkner
Azra Hromadžić, Syracuse University: A City in Love with the River in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Debora Spini, Syracuse University Florence Center: “My Indianness is my religion”: inclusive citizenship and the women protest of Shaheen Bagh, New Delhi
Dagmar Wernitznig, University of Ljubijana: Citizenship, Gender, and Post-War Transitions: Historiographical Case Studies of Alien Women
12h30 Lunch break sponsored by Syracuse Abroad
Restaurant Le Jasmin 1 Rue Schimper, 67000 Strasbourg
14h00 Round table and debate
And then what? New nationalism in Post-national era
With Hélène Quanquin, University of Lille; Carol Faulkner, Syracuse University; Samim Akgönül, University of Strasbourg; Elizabeth Cohen, Syracuse University
16h00 End of the conference and free time in Strasbourg
