Citizenship as a technology of territory

Keywords: Citizenship, land, territory, enclaves, Bangladesh.
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Territory is a bundle of political technologies, presumably better known as techniques for controlling land and terrain. However, this paper suggests that considering citizenship and its relations as technologies for producing land offer further insight into the creation of territory. Focusing on the post-exchange experience of citizenship and land formalization in the former enclaves of India inside Bangladesh, the paper demonstrates that the Bangladeshi state effectively used relations of citizenship and measures of spatial control in re- and de-territorializing the former enclaves. In so doing, it specifically focuses on the enclave residents’ recognition as rights-bearing citizens and the inclusion of enclave land within the state jurisdiction of Bangladesh. In the process, it argues, territory is produced from both “above” and “below.” The spatial techniques of measuring and marking land allowed the state to produce territory from above. At the same time, an intense negotiation from the former enclave residents in claiming ownership of land enabled it to be produced from below. The paper therefore contends that citizenship (and its relations), viewed as a technique for claiming and making land, offers further insight into the political technology of territory.