Reproduction and citizenship/reproducing citizens: editorial introduction

TLDR

Reproduction politics have long been central to feminist struggles, yet they remain underexplored in interdisciplinary citizenship studies, where scholars now examine biological, sexual, technological, and intergenerational labor dimensions that generate and reproduce citizenship. This volume responds to Bryan Turner's call by assembling the first major global collection that systematically investigates the nexus of reproduction and citizenship. It gathers feminist and queer scholars from Europe, the Americas, and Australia to analyze how reproductive practices shape and are shaped by citizenship, offering comparative perspectives on the reproduction of membership and belonging. The book was published as a special issue of Citizenship Studies.

Abstract

Book synopsis: Whilst politics of reproduction have been at heart of feminist struggles for over a century and a half, their analysis has not yet come to occupy a central place in interdisciplinary study of citizenship. This volume takes up challenge posed by Bryan Turner, when he noted the absence of any systematic thinking about familial relations, reproduction and (2008), and offers first major global collection of work exploring this nexus of practices and political contestations. The book brings together scholars from across Europe, Americas, and Australia to develop feminist and queer analyses of relationship between and reproduction, and to explore ways in which is reproduced. Extending foundational work of feminist political theorists and sociologists who have interrogated public/private dichotomy on which traditional civic republican and liberal understandings of rest, contributors examine biological, sexual, and technological realities of natality, and social realities of intimate intergenerational material and affective labour that are generative of citizens, and that serve to reproduce membership of, and belonging to, states, nations, societies, and thus of citizenship itself. This book was published as a special issue of Citizenship Studies.