The Center for the Study of Citizenship (CSC) at Wayne State University invites papers, panels, and poster sessions for its 5th Annual Conference in Citizenship Studies to be held March 27-29, 2008. This year’s theme, “The Boundaries of Citizenship,” explores the role of boundaries, both physical and conceptual, that shape the recognition and exercise of citizenship. Boundaries that constitute and shape citizenship are ever shifting and contestable, and raise issues far beyond those associated with traditional legal categories.

We welcome proposals from scholars and graduate students on topics dealing with boundaries of citizenship regardless of time period or geographic scope. We invite presentations from among and across the widest range of disciplines, including but not limited to: literature, philosophy, political science, history, anthropology, law, sociology, economics, geography, medicine, human biology, film studies, music and performance.

Issues associated with boundaries and citizenship include, among other matters: the designation of the population and territory to be included within “the nation”; the enforcement, crossing, or questioning of national borders and identities; the qualifications for and entitlements conferred by accession to citizenship; the uses of gender, race, class, ethnicity, religion, caste, and other distinctions to restrict ascription of citizenship or access to its benefits; and the positing of limits to citizens’ legitimate relationships with foreign nations, or to their activities in opposition to their own governments. But the theme extends further to literal and metaphorical borders and border crossings of all kinds. Topics may include phenomena as varied as: relations between border nations and among residents of their border regions; the effects of internal boundaries (e.g., states/provinces, counties, municipalities, school districts) on allocations of rights and responsibilities; non-territorially-based communities facilitated by new modes of communication; non-territorially-bounded problems such as organized crime, environmental degradation, or epidemics; transborder and transcommunal adoption; exile and displacement; global or regional commerce and labor markets; corporate citizenship; the realization of human rights irrespective of citizenship; the extradition and extraterritorial prosecution of suspected criminals, including state agents accused of human rights violations. These examples are meant only to illustrate possibilities, not to limit the range of potential subjects for scholarly inquiry.

The Center plans to publish a volume comprised of selected papers from the conference. Deadline for submissions is October 1, 2007. Please visit the CSC website for more information and for submission details.

www.clas.wayne.edu/citizenship/

We regret the Center does not provide funding for travel or other expenses. All questions should be directed to the conference organizer, Renee Bricker - rbricker@wayne.edu.