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THEORIZING CITIZENSHIP FROM THE MARGINS
Author(s) -
Brettschneider Marla
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
southeastern political review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 0730-2177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.1998.tb00496.x
Subject(s) - citizenship , presumption , democracy , political science , work (physics) , sociology , face (sociological concept) , gender studies , law , social science , politics , engineering , mechanical engineering
Democratic theorists devote much attention to citizenship. What might it mean, though, to theorize citizenship specifically from the margins? The presumption made here is that working from the margins indicates a concern for, and a sensitivity to, the views, needs and aspirations of those on the margins of society and attempts to attend to these. As the focus for this article is citizenship, the particular experimenting with such work done here is rooted in the experience of marginalization of certain groups in their exclusion from the formal relationships within the spheres of citizenship. The paper describes other spheres in which these groups have always been active. The experiences of many women and marginalized minorities in these other spheres suggest alternative possibilities for an “integrated” view of citizenship. After demonstrating this, I seek to articulate some of the concrete obstacles feminists face in enacting this “integrated” form of democratic citizenship.