Raciolinguistic border-making and the elasticity of assessment and believeability in the UK citizenship process

Abstract

Citizenship testing in the UK assesses the applicant’s knowledge of English and of life in the UK as part of a legal requirement. This testing is one part of the British citizenship process which also creates other forms of assessment for applicants that function as bordering techniques. This paper demonstrates how these non-test forms of assessment emerge, in some cases, before the citizenship test through pre-arrival language testing for non-EU spouses and family reunification. They also take place after the citizenship test through citizenship ceremonies and post-ceremony passport interviews. The data is drawn from a four year project examining the experiences of those experiencing the citizenship process. Using the notion of raciolinguistic perspectives and Derrida’s metaphor of the Shibboleth, I show how the individual may stand in the face of judgment in various forms through their interactions with the State. The multiple assessment points in the naturalisation process beyond the main test itself enforce the need for ‘believeability’ of the applicant who must submit themselves to be assessed – in some cases, repeatedly.