Political Subjectivity – Rene's Research Blog

Political subjects:

Those who have membership in the polity and can consequently vote

Those excluded from the polity but who can nevertheless make their voices heard (by whom and for how long?)

Those who are considered “persons” under the law

And specifically, regarding the undocumented immigrants, those who are considered “under the jurisdiction of the state”… as the current debates over birthright citizenship have illustrated.

The political actions of undocumented students are a critique of illegality in themselves.

Ranciere- Ten Thesis on Politics

Commentary on Ranciere & Ten Thesis

Edkins, Jenny, Persram, Nalini, Pin-Fat, Veronique. (1999). Sovereignty & Subjectivity. London: Lynne Reineer Publ.

the tension between claims of sovereingty (the state) and claims of subjectivity (the person or collective) ix

the new modern subject arose with the new nation-state (framed in the language of spatial separation, of self and other). The “alien” is the non-citizen other. x

the view of unitary communities living within sovereign states does not account for transnatioanl realities xi

sovereignty and subjectivy can only be reconciled within the nation-state xii

Narratives of sovereignty and subjectivity are necessarily intertwined, complex, mutually implicating, and seemingly fixed and hence authoratative. p. 17 How does the testimony break the seamingly fixed linked between the normative sovereignty & subjectivy link.

Political Subjectivity