British Citizenship a local welcome Bridget Byrne University of Manchester Paper for Presentation at CRONEM, July 2009 Draft, not for citation Background Citizenship is a slippery and potentially dry subject. Not least because it refers to many different things. Citizenship can be both a practice and a status. It involves rights but also questions of identity. The classic literature tells us that there are three kinds, or stages of citizenship civil, political and social, but other literature would add intimate, cultural and other forms. Citizenship can be bestowed, constructed, claimed or, in the new popular discourse earned which raises the question, can it therefore be removed? Citizenship has become a buzz word in both academic and policy circles. There is, according to some a citizenship crisis in Britain: We don t know what it means or how to do it. This argument was particularly present, for instance, in response to civil disturbances in Oldham and Bradford in 2001 and in the war on terror. The Labour Government has proposed various solutions to this crisis. These include: the introduction of citizenship studies in schools (1999); the bi-annual citizenship survey begun in 2001; and attention given to the endowing of citizenship to new British subjects. David Blunkett has been a key actor in this. The focus on new citizens needs to be understood as part of a contradictory move within British legislative policy. On the one hand, there are arguments coming from government that immigration should be seen as potentially positive thing (where it is good for the economy), yet this is accompanied by an increasing demonization of unmanaged immigration and in particular of asylum seekers. These contradictory moves can be seen in the White Paper Secure Borders, Safe Haven (2002). This presents the idea of encouraging more managed migration, but also more controls and penalties for uncontrolled migration. This paper also proposed the citizenship ceremonies, alongside language tests and citizenship test. The discussions surrounding the citizenship ceremony and test are perhaps also the point where citizenship becomes bound up with national identity. Are the tests assessing people s knowledge of what they need for active citizenship, or understandings of Britishness. Yet national identity is a very complicated thing for the British. As Bernard Crick wrote, I am a citizen of a country with no agreed colloquial name. For Crick, Britishness is not a cultural identity, but a legal political concept, about a state, not a nation. Yet it is not always understood as such and is often interrelated in complicated ways with Englishness, Scottishness and Welshness. Questions of citizenship are critical because of the ways they shape people s movements and lives and because they are about power and politics. Rogers Smith argues that Citizenship laws are among the most fundamental of political
creations. They distribute power, assign status and define political purposes. They create the most recognized political identity of the individuals they embrace, one displayed on passports scrutinized at every contested border. They also assign negative identities to the aliens they fence out (Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in US History 1997 p30-1). Citizenship can also create identities which may be integral to individuals senses of personal identity. It has discursive and experiential dimensions as well as political/legal. It is both and issue of individual and collective importance. As Lauren Berlant argues: practices of citizenship involve both public-sphere narratives and concrete experiences of quotidian life that do not cohere or harmonise but also that citizenship provides important definitional frames for the ways people see themselves as public when they do (The Queen of America goes to Washington City: Essays on Sex and Citizenship 1997 p10) Legal practices of citizenship have been in seemingly constant flux since 1900 when Britain essentially had open borders. But the rate of change speeded up in the post war period. Under the Nationality Act of 1948 - all individuals who were citizens of a Commonwealth country or a colony within the empire and who owed allegiance to the Crown were deemed to be British citizens. But from the Commonwealth Immigration Act of 1962 onwards, immigration and nationality have been informed by and ethnic (racial) understanding of the British nation. As a result of a complicated history of legislation there are six different categories of British subject British citizens, but only one of them holds the full rights of a citizen, including the right to live in Britain and participate in the political process. The research In this paper, I m interested in looking at the newly introduced citizenship ceremonies. In 2004 the first citizenship ceremony was conducted in the London Borough of Brent. These compulsory ceremonies for those who have been granted British citizenship had been proposed in the government white paper and then in the 2002 Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act. The ceremonies were conceived as a way to celebrate the moment of achieving citizenships. Alongside the civil partnership ceremonies introduced in 2005, they mark a significant extension in the function of local borough and county registry offices where they are generally conducted. These are the sites of the official marking of other significant life events more traditionally life, death and marriage. The ceremonies have brought more political actors directly into the registry offices, as they are frequently conducted by local mayors and local councillors have often been involved in their preparation. Each ceremony involves a local welcome from the mayor or other functionary which generally involves a reflection on citizenship and the history or identity of the local area or region. It is this local welcome that has interested me. It is integral to the government s conception of citizenship that should be based in local communities. Local registry offices were told to give a welcome, but not told them what to put in it. I m Interested in looking at the citizenship ceremonies as a moment of the invention of tradition, and as a moment of narrating citizenship and thereby narrating the nation or state. I contacted all the registry offices in England, Wales and Scotland (have yet to do Northern Ireland) and have over 60 responses. This paper is the result of my reflections from an early stage of analysis. And I will look at three main elements of
the local welcome part of the ceremony: history; the representation of civic values and responses to the migrant experience. HISTORY Large majority of the speeches give some account of history, but generally a very curtailed and sometimes rather odd account. Here is an example: Like any part of the United Kingdom Gloucestershire has its own customs and traditions dating back many centuries. The Tetbury Wool Sack races, cheeserolling down Coopers Hill and the Bisley Well Blessing ceremony, are but a few. Gloucestershire has been inhabited for many thousands of years and successive generations have left behind remains that give us a glimpse of their lifestyle. Neolithic long barrows and Bronze and Iron Age hill forts are to be found throughout our region. Two main Roman roads, Ermin Street and the Foss Way, are still busy transport routes even to the present day. The Romans established administrative centres in Gloucester and Cirencester and evidence can still be found in present day street plans. The county also has a history of Royal connections, the castles of Berkeley and Sudeley have played important roles in English history. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has a home in the County near Tetbury. Gloucestershire has also been home to some of the most famous of British composers such as Edward Elgar and Gustav Holst whose music you may recognise playing here today. It is difficult to see what is to be made of by a new citizen by this account, the model appears to be either be royal or be eccentric. There is nothing on two world wars which might expect to be fundamental to any account of history. And nothing on empire. But the leap from Roman times to Prince Charles has its own logic and is not uncommon. In many speeches, the only history given is of ancient/roman times and then maybe some mention of famous names. See the example from Devon below: Perhaps most well known of all Sir Francis Drake. He it was who when, playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe as the Spanish Armada was sailing up the English Channel, decided to finish his game before turning to confront this invasion. Anxious he might well have been but he was determined that no one should see his anxiety. A very British characteristic. There may be a don t mention the war syndrome, which might also apply to the Empire. But there are also claims to origins which is familiar to the narration of nation. Sir Francis Drake would certainly not have seen himself as British which is a much more modern creation. Whilst this representation of history is common in the accounts, there are other ways in which it is represented. These alternative representations are clearly more readily available for urban areas with deeper histories of diversity. So for example in Wandsworth:
it is worth mentioning on this St George s Day that even though he is the patron saint of England, St George was not English. It is believed that he was born in what is now Turkey, became a Roman soldier and died in Palestine in ad 303. who knows, if he was living today perhaps he would be among our new citizens here this afternoon. And a different version of the speech by Wandsworth quotes the first black Mayor John Archer, elected in Battersea in 1903 and an MP of Indian origin elected from 1922-29. These examples are also used to introduce questions of racism and exclusion which no other speech I have been sent does. Equally, the Manchester welcome gives a detailed history of immigration to the city (Italian, Irish, Jewish, from the Asian subcontinent, commonwealth countries, eastern- European and non-commonwealth). This is represented as a long history of welcome, so the account is certainly not warts and all. In general, history is given more space in these speeches than the modern or the forward looking that the government wants active citizenship to contain. CIVIC VALUES Civic values were presented as being fundamental to British citizenship, largely variations on a theme but centre around ideas of free speech, respect for others opinions, tolerance, democracy etc. The following is an example from Hertfordshire: Citizenship imposes responsibility as well as giving protection. A community whose way of life reflects enduring British values will be a strong and thriving community. The values of liberty and democracy; tolerance and free speech; fair play and civic duty, will be enduring if we are able to instil these in our children About a quarter mentioned the responsibility that go with rights, as in the following example. As British Citizens we enjoy many rights. Responsibilities go with these rights : We have the right to vote but also the responsibility of playing an active and constructive role in society. We have the right to speak our minds and practice our own religions and the responsibility of doing so in a way that does not cause social harm. We have the right to be protected by law and the responsibility of obeying the law. We have the right to be treated properly by others but also the responsibility of treating others as we would wish to be treated. With honesty, fairness and with respect. THE MIGRANT PERSPECTIVE Only about a quarter looked at the perspective of the new citizens themselves, considering what sort of journey they might have made or experiences they might bring with them. The following is an example from West Sussex:
Today we are very pleased to be able to say Welcome to YOU, to thank you for the contribution that you bring with you from your own backgrounds - be it your skills, your talents, or your customs - your Bravery - which it undoubtedly takes, along with enthusiasm, to embrace life in a different country - but we also want to thank you now for what you WILL contribute as you continue your life here. However, this openness to the contribution of new citizens comes as a double edged sword, which raises important questions for the limits of the inclusion which is being considered: Today, as you finally are able to acquire that all-important British passport, it is the end of the process. It is also the real beginning of a new life with new status. - and that new status brings with it some responsibilities. If you are to be really British, it will involve much more. I hope you will think carefully about those responsibilities that you will become involved in the life of the community around you beyond your own family and close friends - learn about that community and what makes it function that you will, in short, join in. If you do that, it will not only make your own newly-acquired citizenship more meaningful for YOU, but will also enable others to see that you really do want to be part of us.