Thoughts on “Have We Even Arrived Before Coming Back Home Again?”
N.B. This was originally posted in my Facebook page as a reflection on a project I'm currently involved with. The theme of such a project centers on the immigrant narrative where one leaves a place of origin, settles in a new one, adjusts accordingly, and finally undertakes the arduous process of trying to come back home and relive the sense of belonging and community that was once left behind. ====== The teleological (horizontal time) element of citizenship can be found intriguing, baffling, or even both. Does one start life as a “stateless” entity upon one’s conception in the womb, only granted political affinity based on jus soli or jus sanguinis upon birth? If citizenship and political belonging can be obtained either by birth or by naturalization, how does one pinpoint a definitive end to such a process? Does naturalization rightfully justify such an end in that it dictates the immigrant’s arrival at the peak of evolution towards nurturing political belonging? For a mig