Abstract
<jats:p xml:lang="en">The Gendered Politics of Belonging: Patriarchy, Nationality Law, and Second-Class Citizenship examines how nationality laws around the world translate patriarchal power into legal hierarchies of citizenship. Moving across South Asia; the Middle East and North Africa; Africa; the Americas; and Europe, it traces how rules governing descent, marriage, religion, and race determine who may transmit citizenship, who can be excluded, and whose belonging remains conditional. These legal regimes do not simply reflect “tradition” or “culture”; they actively produce second-class citizens and, in many contexts, people who are functionally or formally stateless.Bringing together feminist legal theory, postcolonial scholarship, and sociolegal research, the book links technical provisions of law to the lived experiences of women, children, and marginalized communities navigating borders, bureaucracies, and everyday violence. Case studies follow families separated by nationality bans, women who cannot confer citizenship on their children, and communities whose membership is repeatedly questioned or revoked. At the same time, the book documents feminist movements, grassroots organizers, and strategic litigators who contest these regimes and imagine more equal futures of belonging. By connecting doctrinal analysis with interviews, advocacy campaigns, and international reform efforts, The Gendered Politics of Belonging offers scholars, practitioners, and activists a framework for understanding—and ultimately dismantling—gendered citizenship in contemporary legal orders. It will be of particular interest to readers in law, gender studies, migration studies, and international relations, as well as policymakers, journalists, and advocates seeking tools to challenge the legal techniques that sustain patriarchal citizenship</jats:p>