In this seminar, author Lois Harder will discuss her paper, which explores political debates surrounding derivative citizenship (for children born abroad to citizens), focusing primarily on Canada. She argues that invocations of ‘the genuine’ citizen and the ‘citizen of convenience,’ signal the meaning of national belonging to both existing and aspiring citizens, while also expressing anxiety about the connection between citizenship and national attachment.

Recent legal reforms in Canada and Italy demonstrate that administrative realities are often in tension with rhetorical fervor. Nonetheless, popular discourse shapes political possibilities. Proponents of limiting derivative citizenship articulate concerns about a lack of connection or an instrumental attachment to the polity when citizenship claimants are located beyond territorial borders. However, evidence of familial heritage offers a powerful rejoinder, entwined in a presumptive cultural familiarity that is denied to immigrants whose lineage lies elsewhere (as in the French Mayotte case) or in a more distant past (as in Portugal).