The modern framework of citizenship in nation-states created the category of “refugee." The “refugee regime” established in the twentieth century seeks to establish internationally accepted rights-based norms for people who have had to flee their homes. Since citizens may more easily access legally defined rights, however, they enjoy greater opportunities to have their agency recognized as enacting humanness than refugees do.
In this class, we will draw on literary and philosophical texts (among other documents) to examine the intertwining relationship of refugee and citizen, and the distinct ways in which each category offers insight into what it means to be human. Finally, we move to consider whether, in a global context in which rights-based norms are eroding, the category of “citizen” continues to serve as a useful model for measuring human-ness, and what alternative ways of thinking about human in community there might be.
