Non-State civic membership from Antiquity to Modernity
Ancient Roman Expulsions and Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) Citizenship Resurgence
Wednesday 5 March 2025, 12:00 – 14:30 (12-12:40 lunch)
Council Chamber in Northcott House, Streatham Campus, University of Exeter.
Online Teams/Zoom link from 12:40 – 14:30 (TBC)
Organized by Exeter Classics and Ancient History, ROUTES, and the Centre for Political Thought.
Guest speaker Dr Damien Lee (Toronto Metropolitan University).
Exeter speakers include Elena Isayev (Ancient History) and Andrew Schaap (Politics).
Access, Rights, Privileges and Protection: What gives value to civic membership? And how does it transform depending on the practice and agents of sovereignty in any given period? These questions bring together the seemingly disparate cases which will be presented by the panel members:
- From a moment of expulsion in Roman Egypt (Isayev)
- To the current resurgence of Anishinaabe citizenships in Canada (Lee)
- With contemporary theories situating nation-state citizenship (Schaap)
More specifically, our guest speaker Damien Lee will present his current Research (Canada Research Chair in Biskaabiiyang and Indigenous Political Resurgence, Toronto Metropolitan University):
Anishinaabe citizenships through the lens of adoption stories
Many Indigenous peoples of North America have long used adoption as a tool of treaty-making and citizenship expansion. Yet, today adoption has become a dirty word for many due to the ways that the settler society has weaponized adoption against Indigenous peoples.
In this talk, Dr. Lee considers the nation-making function and potential of Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) adoption practices, specifically drawing to the surface key principles that guide citizenship making both past and present.
Images:
On the left: Papyrus – P.Giss 40 (Constitutio Antoniniana) https://www.constitutio.de/en/significance/introduction.
On the right: Anishinaabe Dance Blanket Detail Mia 2007 1 by Minneapolis Institute of Art is marked with CC0 1.0.