Ambiguous Subjectivity, Irregular Citizenship: From Inside/Outside to Being-Caught In-between

This paper reflects on the recent development of new and innovative ways of thinking about political subjectivity in international politics asflexible and contingent by specifically considering ambiguity (in-between-ness) as an important, yet under-theorized, aspect of how political subjectivity is experienced. It does so by focusing on the question of irregular citizenship, where people get caught between citizenship and migration. Focusing on the constant question mark around citizenship and around the alternative of being a migrant in the everyday life of certain people in the United States and in Europe, this paper unpacks how ambiguity is constitutive of political identity and belonging. It argues that Julia Kristeva's notion of foreignness offers a useful way of understanding experiences of being political which escape both citizenship and migration and are instead embodied in stylistic emotions (for example, poetry, friendship, family ties).