Enacting Citizenship in an Urban Borderland: the Case of Maximilian Park in Brussels

Authors

  • Racha Daher KU Leuven
  • Viviana d'Auria KU Leuven http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5124-7685

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2612-0496/8517

Keywords:

urban borderland, non-citizen citizenship, Maximilian Park

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between asylum seekers and Maximilian Park, a contested site in Brussels in terms of unresolved conflicts around migration, refugees and borders. By tracing the park’s evolution as part of the North Quarter, and understanding the various transient trajectories that characterize this urban area, the paper will probe into the interaction between “full” and “temporary” citizens. Through spatial synthesis and mapping, the paper will first unpack the urban history of the North Quarter as part of the arrival infrastructure of the European capital. The connections between groups with varying degrees of vulnerability who claim spaces with more or less legitimacy will be explored through two main sources complementing ethnographic analysis. Firstly, narratives developed by the local press will be used as a means to unfold the main perspectives when dealing with the complex topic of migration and public space; secondly, the on-line organization of a key civil society organization active in the support of migrants will be interrogated. Building on the notion of “non-citizen citizenship” the authors will conclude by critically reflecting on what form the extension of rights could take to help craft a revised form of citizenship based on the politics of presence in the city.

References

Agier, Michel. Borderlands: Towards an Anthropology of the Cosmopolitan Condition. Cambridge: Polity, 2016.

Bosniak, Linda. The Citizen and the Alien: Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006.

Bruxelles Historic Maps. 1865, 1880, 1912, 1933. Brussels: Institut Cartographique Militaire.

Corboz, André. “The Land as Palimpsest,” Diogenes 31, no. 121 (1983): 12-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/039219218303112102.

De Meulder, Bruno. "North Side Stories: History of the North Quarter." Lecture, University of Leuven, Leuven, October 2017.

Depraetere, Anika, and Stijn, Oosterlynck. "‘I finally found my place’: a political ethnography of the Maximiliaan refugee camp in Brussels " Citizenship Studies 21, no. 6 (2017) :693-709. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2017.1341653.

Dikeç, Mustafa. “Space, Politics and the Political.” Environment and Planning D 23, no. 2 (2005): 171-188. https://doi.org/10.1068/d364t.

Düvell, Franck. “Transit migration: A blurred and politicized concept.” Population, Space and Place 18, no.4 (2010): 415-27. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.631.

Isin, Engin F., and Patricia K. Wood. "Cosmopolitan Citizenship: Contested Sovereignties." In Citizenship and Identity (1999): 91-122.

Isin, Engin F., “Theorizing acts of citizenship.” In Acts of citizenship, edited by Engin F. Isin and G. Nielsen (London: Zed Books, 2008).

Lafaut, Dirk and Gily Coene. “‘Let Them In!’ Humanitarian Work as Political Activism? The Case of the Maximiliaan Refugee Camp in Brussels.” Journal of Migrant & Refugee Studies (20 March 2018): 1-19. https://doi.org10.1080/15562948.2018.1430283.

Migreurop. Atlas des Migrants en Europe. Paris: Arman Colin, 2017.

Papadopoulos, Dimitris, and Vassilis S. Tsianos. "After citizenship: autonomy of migration, organisational ontology and mobile commons," Citizenship Studies 17, no. 2 (2013): 178-196. http://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2013.780736.

Purnôde, Nicole and Albert Martens. “’Renovation du quartier de la gare du Nord dans la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale.” Brussels: Brussels Region, 2010. Retrieved at http://www.quartiernord.be/docs/plan_manhattan_livre 1.pdf on 13 September 2018.

Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Inventaire du Patrimoine Architectural. Retrieved at http://www.irismonument.be/fr.Bruxelles_Extension_Nord.Allee_Verte.html on 31 August 2018.

Scholten, Peter et al. Policy Innovation in Refugee Integration: A comparative analysis of innovative policy strategies toward refugee integration in Europe. Rotterdam: Dutch Department of Social Affairs/Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2017.

Stevenson, Nick. "Cultural Citizenship in the ‘Cultural’ Society: A Cosmopolitan Approach." Citizenship Studies 7, no. 3 (2003): 331-348. https://doi.org/10.1080/1362102032000098904

Swerts, Thomas. “Non-citizen citizenship in Canada and the United States.” In Routledge Handbook of Global Citizenship Studies, edited by Engin F. Isin and Peter Nyers. London: Routledge, 2014.

Downloads

Published

2018-12-31

How to Cite

Daher, R., & d’Auria, V. (2018). Enacting Citizenship in an Urban Borderland: the Case of Maximilian Park in Brussels. European Journal of Creative Practices in Cities and Landscapes, 1(1), 53–72. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2612-0496/8517