Elusive citizenship: European citizens’ experiences of naturalisation in Britain after Brexit

This thesis studies EU citizens’ experiences of naturalisation in Britain after Brexit. It focuses on the affective and cultural requirements of the naturalisation process in the UK, expanding on the literature on affective citizenship. The study draws on data collected through interviews in Brighton and Hove, the analysis of which addresses the following research questions: How did EU citizens experience naturalisation in the UK after Brexit? What was the role of participants’ European citizenship in those experiences? What was the impact of cultural requirements on participants’ conceptualisations of British citizenship? How did participants legitimise their claim to British citizenship? The theoretical frame of this research speaks to perspectives on affective citizenship, acts of citizenship and notions of deservingness. Traditionally, these bodies of literature have not been combined to study experiences of naturalisation. While literature on citizenship is often centred around the state, I focus on EU citizens’ experiences. Additionally, I focus on a multi-scalar approach that draws attention to the local dimension of citizenship through the concept of community of value, moving away from approaches that consider citizenship as stable within national borders.