Dual nationality, anti-citizenship, and xeno-racism: Online tropes on migrant (in)gratitude, and (in)adequate Britishness of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Abstract

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British dual citizen, was detained by the Iranian state from April 2016 to March 2022 and charged with spying and propaganda activities against the Iranian state without due process. After her release and return to the UK, Zaghari-Ratcliffe criticized the UK government in a press conference, which triggered a Twitter campaign using the hashtags “sendherback” and “ungrateful.” This campaign claimed that she did not show “enough gratitude” to Britain, the country that “saved” her. In this paper, we investigate the content of the Twitter campaign. Using the concept of anti-citizenship, we focus on xeno-racist discourses around Zaghari-Ratcliffe's dual nationality and how her belonging in Britain is challenged. We explore the role Zaghari-Ratcliffe's Iranian background plays in how her Britishness is rendered suspect, which then enables the racialized tropes in the #sendherback campaign.