Methodological De-nationalism: De-exceptionalizing Displacement, Re-exceptionalizing Citizenship

Abstract:Exchanging the lens of migration for one of displacement can help move away from assumptions about migrant exceptionalism, but it does not necessarily trouble the idea that some people are “out of place” and others are “in place.” This is bound up with nationally specific ways of encoding and remaking race. I examine this with reference to the UK’s Windrush Scandal and consider the class dimensions of displacement which are imbricated with race. This points to the importance of attending to citizenship and its inequalities, and demanding we re-exceptionalise citizenship at the same time as de-exceptionalising displacement.