Citizenship, Gender and Nationalism: The case of Denmark and the Netherlands
Author
Cardin, Gaia
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2025
Abstract
This thesis investigates how definitions of citizenship in integration discourses in Denmark and the Netherlands shape inclusionary and exclusionary practices, with a particular focus on the interplay between gender and nationalism. Drawing on a feminist view of citizenship as a bordering practice and on the concept of femonationalism (the mobilization of gender equality in nationalist arguments), it applies critical discourse analysis to civic integration learning materials, naturalization tests, and parliamentary debates. The analysis identifies three recurring discourses in both countries: (1) citizenship is framed as a privilege that migrants must earn by fulfilling certain duties; (2) discourses construct and sustain categories of ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ migrants, legitimizing barriers and social hierarchies between citizens and non-citizens; and (3) citizenship is equated with membership in the national community and with normative constructions of a national ‘Us’ versus the ‘Other’. This latter discourse intersects with femonationalism by positioning gender equality as a core national value and attributing gender inequality to migrants, which stigmatizes especially migrant (often Muslim) men and reproduces colonial narratives of Western superiority. Based on these findings, the thesis argues that by defining citizenship as a privilege and legitimizing barriers to access, civic integration policies reproduce social hierarchies and increase the precarity of non-citizens; by equating citizenship with nationality, they reinforce normative boundaries of belonging and processes of Othering. Overall, the thesis contends that civic integration programs are better understood as a reinterpretation and reproduction of nationalist discourses rather than evidence of a liberal convergence.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan definitioner af borgerskab i integrationsdiskurser i Danmark og Nederlandene former inklusions- og eksklusionspraksisser, med særlig vægt på samspillet mellem køn og nationalisme. Med udgangspunkt i en feministisk forståelse af borgerskab som en grænsepraksis og begrebet femonationalisme (mobiliseringen af ligestilling i nationalistiske argumenter) anvendes kritisk diskursanalyse på civilsintegrationsmaterialer, prøver til indfødsret/naturalisation og parlamentariske debatter. Analysen identificerer tre gennemgående diskurser i begge lande: (1) borgerskab defineres som et privilegium, som migranter skal gøre sig fortjent til gennem opfyldelse af pligter; (2) diskurserne skaber og opretholder kategorierne af ‘fortjente’ og ‘ufortjente’ migranter, hvilket legitimerer barrierer og sociale hierarkier mellem borgere og ikke-borgere; og (3) borgerskab sidestilles med medlemskab af det nationale fællesskab og normative forestillinger om et nationalt ‘os’ over for ‘de andre’. Denne sidste diskurs krydser med femonationalisme ved at opstille ligestilling som en særlig national værdi, mens kønsulighed tilskrives migranter, hvilket stigmatiserer især migrantiske (ofte muslimske) mænd og reproducerer koloniale forestillinger om vestlig overlegenhed. På den baggrund argumenteres der for, at ved at definere borgerskab som et privilegium og legitimere adgangsbarrierer, reproducerer civilsintegrationspolitikker sociale hierarkier og øger prekærheden for ikke-borgere; når borgerskab ligestilles med nationalitet, forstærkes normative grænser for tilhørsforhold og processer af ‘Othering’. Samlet peger specialet på, at civilsintegrationsprogrammer bør forstås som en gentolkning og reproduktion af nationalistiske diskurser frem for udtryk for en liberal konvergens.
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