Preliminary Programme

The procedure for reinstatement in French nationality, introduced in the Civil Code of 1804, has entered into a "new age" following the decolonisations of the 1960s and the subsequent tightening of immigration policies during the folllowing decades. From 1960 to 2010, more than 200 000 people were concerned and became French again, after they had lost the French citizenship when their country became independant. Most of them (around 90%) were Algerians. Through an archival inquiry, focusing mainly on individual applications, and interviews with people who claimed their French belongings, this reaserch is an attempt to connect approach about Legal Consciousness, Citizenship studies and individual stories, including complex paths from people who even did not know if the independance of Algeria (1962) had made them French or Algerian. (Show less)

The research on Jewish emancipation is extensive for many parts of Europe. However, there is a gap in the research in the Nordic countries. This paper presents my doctoral project: the fight for Jewish emancipation in Sweden, seen from the perspective of the Jewish congregations in Gothenburg, Norrköping and Stockholm. Comparing with international research, this paper will outline some of the main features in Jewish Emancipation in Sweden, usually defined between 1838–1870. This was a time when many civic rights had just been won (1838), but political rights were still far away (1870) and something that many Jews fought for.
Jewish Congregations in Sweden were autonomous and there was no overarching structure as in other countries – Sweden did not have a Chief Rabbi. Therefore, the struggle for emancipation differed between the congregations, even though several joint efforts were made. Difference between cities and congregations are thus of particular interest to this project. For example, the Jewish congregation in Gothenburg, was leading in terms of reform, and had access to aspects of the bourgeois community that was more closed to members of the congregation in Stockholm.
Many concepts intertwine in the phenomenon of Jewish emancipation, such as acculturation, liberalisation, secularisation, nation-building, nationalism, identity, individualisation, immigration, integration and not the least the question of citizenship. Of the many concepts linked to emancipation, this paper will mainly focus on citizenship, nationalism, and identity. What did it mean to belong to the Swedish nation? Who was fit to become a citizen? How did Jews argue within the congregations as well as in their petitions to the king? When trying to answer these questions, another question is implicitly answered: why emancipation was important. It held major symbolic value. It meant becoming accepted as citizens of the Swedish nation. (Show less)