Activist citizenship in non-Western and non-democratic contexts: how to define ‘acts of citizenship’

Abstract

ABSTRACT The acts of citizenship framework emerged as an important innovation to the previous status- and practice-focused understanding of citizenship with a landmark edited volume Acts of Citizenship (2008). While the theorisation of citizenship through acts has emerged predominantly from democratic context, the theory holds that acts of citizenship can happen in various cultural and political contexts, and should be studied in multiple and overlapping sites and scales, rather than solely those linked to nation-states. Yet, what happens when acts of citizenship take place in contexts, where rights are severely curtailed, and the very notion of activist citizenship is rejected as unlawful? And how are acts of citizenship performed differently when they respond to particular cultural sensibilities? This essay aims to extend the repertoire of acts of citizenship, by emphasising why and how acts of citizenship need to be treated differently in different cultural contexts and under varying political regimes.