The Cosmopolites
The Coming of the Global Citizen

What is citizenship? The debate on “citizenship” is growing stronger in recent years. At first look, most people might think there is nothing particular to discuss. After all, citizenship merely tells your country of origin, and it determines what passport you hold for traveling. Intuitively, citize......more

Some are born citizens, some purchase citizenship, and some have citizenship thrust upon them: this, in a nutshell, provides the narrative arc to Abrahamian's wonderful little book. At its analytic core, this book is an account of the rise of the passport-sales industry, pioneered by various passpor......more

A fascinating, thought-provoking book about citizenship in the 21st century. The book's main story arc covers a group of stateless people known as the "bidoon", who live in Middle Eastern countries like the UAE and Kuwait. As non-citizens of the countries they inhabit, the bidoon are denied many of t......more

One of my colleagues recommended this book, though I can't recall how he or she used it or the subject matter of the class. I currently teach a writing class and am interested in using a theme of global engagement/citizenship, so this looks interesting. It's absolutely not what I was expecting. I fig......more

I started re-reading this book during quarantine because of the situation we're all faced in. This book is a great read as it examines a good variety of ways citizenship has been commercialized and also in a sense weaponized.......more