Subjectivity and Citizenship: Intersections of Space, Ethnicity and Identity Among the Urdu-Speaking Minority in Bangladesh

Abstract

The paper examines understandings of citizenship and ethnic identification among the 'Urdu-speaking linguistic minority' in Bangladesh, addressing three key areas of debate. Firstly, it explores the relationship between the material institution of citizenship and conditions of (physical) integration/segregation. Secondly, it attempts to unpick the intimate connection between that material institution and the ethnic and national identities of individuals. Finally, it investigates a dissonance discovered between the bureaucratic state recognition of citizenship and imaginations of that status among interviewees, the 'identities of citizenship' occupied at the local level. The paper demonstrates the significance of subject positionality, economies of power and the 'dialogic' nature of ethnic identity formation, and discusses the complex emotional ordering of belonging they collectively construct. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.