Race is a political tool used by nation-states to make and deny claims to rights of citizenship for those who are racialized within that nation. In this dissertation I examine the relationship between race, nation and citizenship in contemporary Britain. Specifically, I explore the ways racial ideologies within the UK are internalized, reproduced, employed, and resisted by racialized actors as they exercise their civil, political and social rights of citizenship. This dissertation addresses three questions: How do racialized actors in Britain take part in constructing and accessing their rights of citizenship within civil society? What is the nature of British racialized citizenship that is made available to individuals and organisations that represent racial and ethnic communities? What are the narratives used by individuals, Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups and the state to negotiate issues of race and racism within the boundaries of citizenship?I reviewed British immigration legislation and social policies directed at BME communities since 1945; conducted participant observations within a regional BME organization based in Bristol, England; and conducted one-on-one interviews with British citizenship living in England to answer my research questions. I develop a theory of "racialized citizenship" that utilizes Antonio Gramsci's concepts of hegemony, counterhegemonic resistance and contradictory consciousness within the realm of civil society, coupled with British sociologist T.H. Marshall's three-part classification of citizenship as civil, political and social alongside Du Bois' notion of "double consciousness."Increased non-white immigration post-1945 into Britain led the British government to redefine Britishness in terms of "whiteness." This active racialized re-creation of British national identity constantly questioned the legitimacy of non-white communities. I argue that access for racial and ethnic minorities to rights of citizenship is always through a racialized lens that is both limited in nature and predefined/predetermined by the state, or what I call "racialized citizenship." Obtaining full rights of citizenship for racial and ethnic minority individuals is difficult due to the hegemonic constructions of race that are both produced by the British state and reproduced within BME organizations. Racialized citizenship requires agents to use race as a political platform to seek their rights as citizens. However, the contradictory nature of race allows for its contestation by racialized actors within the realm of civil society. For racialized actors resistance occurs through the questioning of larger racial narratives that limit these organizations abilities to conduct the work they feel needs to be done for their communities through a subjugated position within society. This is seen in the strategies employed by BME leaders to raise awareness of their communities needs. Resistance also occurs in the ways BME organizations interpret mainstream funders aims and goals for money awarded. This is observed in the activism styles employed by BME members to access their rights. Finally, resistance occurs in the challenging ways everyday citizens questioned and reinterpreted racial classifications and discourse. But, resistance is slow and ongoing and there is always the risk of reproducing hegemonic constructs when mounting a resistance - the reproductions of "BME as disadvantaged" by the BME sector and the construction of race as biological by everyday citizens are just two examples. However, if we allow for the possibility of resistance to occur then there is a possibility that a new hegemony will emerge.
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