Citizenship, incompleteness and mobility

ABSTRACT

This article advocates a framework of incompleteness for appreciating citizenship as a permanent work in progress. The idea of incompleteness is inspired by the late Nigerian writer and author Amos Tutuola, whose writings help us understand the making, unmaking and remaking of citizenship. An approach to citizenship that is informed by incompleteness points to the violence and violations that delusions around the idea of completeness have caused the world. To speak of citizenship and belonging in whatever form is to imagine and construct a living-togetherness that takes seriously the reality of interconnections and interdependencies. One is and becomes a citizen through relationships with others, relationships that are institutionalized in one form or another. No institution, however carefully thought through from the outset, is perfect, hence the need to humbly (and even enthusiastically) embrace incompleteness. There is power in incompleteness, in the need for flexible mobilities and enriching encounters and interactions with incomplete others.

KEYWORDS:

• Citizenship
• Amos Tutuola
• incompleteness

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Francis B. Nyamnjoh is professor of social anthropology at the University of Cape Town. He has researched and written extensively on Citizenship. His related scholarly publications include: Insiders and Outsiders: Citizenship and Xenophobia in Contemporary Southern Africa (2006); and Incompleteness: Donald Trump, Populism and Citizenship (2022).