The politics of belonging

Abstract

The Politics of Belonging explores the contemporary conundrum between preservation and encounter: between deep national dependencies on migration and diversity, in parallel with a determined political resistance to recognise more fluid and hybrid forms of belonging in a highly mobile, uneven and interconnected world. Ash Amin's notion of a ‘politics of the commons’ provides the paper's orientation for how to engage in forward-looking as opposed to retrospective processes of updating notions of belonging. The paper connects three perspectives across the political, cultural and social spheres: a ‘constitutional commons’ (Taylor 2009), ‘social solidarities’ (Calhoun 2003), and ‘cosmopolitan vernaculars’ (Pollock 2000).

Keywords:

• nationhood
• migration
• belonging
• commons
• cosmopolitan vernacular