Citizenship and irregular migrants

Irregular migration is a much-talked global phenomenon, firmly placed at the top of the political agenda in many countries where it receives hostile media coverage and generates fierce debate. In this contribution, we follow an understanding of citizenship and irregularity as two socio-legal positions existing along a spectrum of membership. Both citizenship and irregularity are produced by intersections of power structures, hierarchies, and systems of oppressions, and are themselves productive of new subjectivities, politics, and relations. The first section theorises irregularity and considers the binary of citizenship-irregularity. The second part explores the relationship between citizenship and irregularity by focusing on: (a) gradations of membership; (b) belonging without formal citizenship; and (c) citizenship from below in cities and camps expressed in ‘acts of citizenship’.