Refugee citizenship: citizenship as a means to make a claim about refugeehood

This article argues for the use of refugee citizenship as a concept to analyse the kind of citizenship sought after, and experienced, by refugees in a protracted situation who want to retain some aspects of refugeehood in order to continue to fight for an endangered homeland. It is based on fieldwork conducted in 2019 with young Tibetans in Toronto who refer to themselves as Tibetan-Canadians or Canadian-Tibetans. Their experience of a dual affiliation, being both Canadian citizens and Tibetan refugees, informs the discussion of how a homeland cause can lead refugees in a protracted situation to have an ambivalent, insider/outsider, position vis-à-vis the newly acquired citizenship of the (usually Western) host country.

Anne-Sophie Bentz, “Refugee citizenship: citizenship as a means to make a claim about refugeehood“, Citizenship Studies, 2023.