Theorizing citizenship in British settler societies

Abstract

This article discusses citizenship in states with a history as British 'dominion' settler societies, focusing on questions of ethnicity and national identity. After noting the shortcomings of T. H. Marshall's widely used citizenship model, the key differences between English and British settler society citizenship experience are outlined, drawing on illustrative material from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The main settler/English state differences highlighted, are the presence of aboriginal peoples with distinct juridicial and political statuses; a characteristic set of relationships between successive flows of British migrants and subsequent generations of local-born settlers, and the shift in societies of immigration towards more extensive forms of ethnic and national pluralism within a 'post-settler' conception of multicultural nationhood in a globalized world. Finally, the article suggests settler and post-settler society citizenship is best conceptualized and described by examining the linked processes of what is called the aboriginalization (of aboriginal minorities), the ethnification (of immigrant minorities) and the indigenization (of settler majorities).