Non-citizenship: 2016-17 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation John E. Sawyer Seminar

The CLRC is honored and excited to be part of Non-citizenship, UC Santa Cruz's 2016-17 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation John E. Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Culture. Linking citizenship, migration, border, labor, and carceral studies, and juxtaposing spatial and social mobility and immobility, this year-long series of events explores what it means to be a citizen and non-citizen in a world made by migrants, refugees, guest workers, permanent residents, asylum seekers, slaves, prisoners, detainees, the stateless, and denizens (residents who do not hold the same rights as citizens).  Our seminar sheds light on the tiered membership—what we call the spectrum of belonging—structuring societies in various places and periods and sharpens our understanding of the ways in which the mobility and regulation of non-citizens affect and transform notions of participation, belonging, and the social contract.  

Non-citizenship is organized around three themes: "Forced Migration" (fall 2016), "Labor Mobility and Precarity" (winter 2017), and "Fluidity of Status:  Migrants, Citizens, Denizens" (spring 2017).  It was preceded by Borders and Belonging:  A Series of Events on Human Migration in the spring of 2016.  To learn more about events related to our Sawyer Seminar, please visit our Events page.