Identity and Citizenship

Where does the idea of citizenship come from? And what does it mean to be a "good" citizen? How are identities wrapped up in citizenship status? What are the paths to citizenship as both an identity and a legal status? Who decides who’s in and who’s out? How do multiple identities fit in with a concept of citizenship? When citizenship becomes a reigning identity category, how have governments and peoples conceptualized stateless individuals who claim citizenship to nowhere? This workshop will explore citizenship as a legal category, an identity marker, and a product of history. It will also examine how citizenship can be both a privilege and a burden.

Pedagogical Focus: Using and Collecting Oral Histories

In this workshop, participants will learn how to infuse alternative artifacts and oral histories into their classrooms. These methods empower students to participate in the preservation of history while also allowing them a greater understanding of whose history “counts.”

Speaker Lineup and Topics:

Francis Fukuyama (Stanford): Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment

Leisy Abrego (UCLA): Identity & Citizenship in Central America & the U.S.

Christoph Sperfeldt (University of Melbourne): Statelessness in Asia and the World 

Kalyani Ramnath (Harvard): Citizenship in South Asia

You will learn:

• To deepen your content knowledge of significant historical issues in different national, regional and global contexts. 
• To apply your new content knowledge as you learn how to infuse alternative artifacts and oral histories while developing a greater understanding of whose history “counts.”