Lived citizenship: conceptualising an emerging field

ABSTRACT

Lived citizenship has emerged as a key concept in citizenship studies over the last two decades. A growing number of authors have applied ideas of lived citizenship as a generative approach to recognise the embodied, relational and lived experiences of being a citizen in everyday life. However, lived citizenship currently lacks conceptual clarity and framing which weakens its analytical power and potential. In this paper we consider the theoretical origins, current applications and development of lived citizenship in order to clarify it as a concept and consider possibilities for its future. We propose a conceptual framing underpinned by four dimensions of lived citizenship (spatial, intersubjective, performed and affective) to serve as a starting point to sharpen and define this emerging field. We then explore these dimensions through three domains of scholarship, of children and youth, asylum seekers, and city-regional dwellers to illustrate the potential of a lived citizenship approach. We conclude by examining some of the implications of this concept as well as its limitations, with the aim of opening a dialogue with inter-disciplinary scholars to help us to further conceptualise this emerging field and widen its future possibilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Lived citizenship
• acts of citizenship
• issue-based citizenship
• children and youth
• asylum seekers
• city-regions

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Academy of Finland [SA303550] and the New Zealand Royal Society Faststart Marsden grant E3012/3648.

Notes on contributors

Kirsi Pauliina Kallio

Kirsi Pauliina Kallio is Professor of Environmental Pedagogy at Tampere University. She has approached the idea of lived citizenship primarily in her research on political geographies of childhood and youth, with specific emphasis on children's political agency as a developing and practiced human capacity. Her recent studies have focused on refuge and asylum, and city-regional democracy, which have provided further avenues for considering the potential of lived citizenship.

Bronwyn Elisabeth Wood

Bronwyn Wood (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Education at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her research interests centre on issues relating to youth participation, citizenship and education. Her recent research focuses on experiences of belonging and citizenship for young people growing up in some of New Zealand's most culturally diverse communities.

Jouni Häkli

Jouni Häkli is Professor or Regional Studies and the leader of the Space and Political Agency Research Group (SPARG) at Tampere University. His research lies at the intersection of political geography and global and transnational sociology, with focus on the study of political subjectivity and agency, urban planning and civic participation, borders and national identities, and forced migration. In his recent work he has been particularly interested in the political agency of people in vulnerable positions.