Episode 44: Childhood and Citizenship

This is Episode 44 of the State of the Theory Podcast. Politics. Power. Popular Culture. And other stuff, probably. In this series, we’re like super nerdy philosophical DJs: mashing up Serious Academic Questions with the most topical news and trends in pop culture. Each week, we’ll tackle a new topic and collide it with ‘critical theory’ (we’re pretty loose with our definitions, though, so expect the unexpected). Our aim is to destroy the stuff we know, explore the stuff we don’t and unsettle everything we think we know about the world. We take the obvious, the commonsensical, the certain, and then we rip it all to shreds. We are your theory doctors and we are always on call. In this episode, we talk about the story of Shamima Begum, and connect it to a number of other news stories (such as the Trump administration’s family separation policy, and a number of high-profile shootings of African-African boys) to think about birthright citizenship and childhood. What kind of bodies does the nation-state feel able to easily exclude and why? What kind of bodies are allowed within categories such as citizen or child, and on what terms? The theoretical text we discuss in this episode include “Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life” by Giorgio Agamben (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Homo-Sacer-Sovereign-Meridian-Aesthetics/dp/0804732183/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1551561674&sr=1-1&keywords=giorgio+agamben) We recorded this episode before news broke that Shamima Begum’s son has died. Our theme music is "The Face of God" by The Agrarians (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Agrarians/The_Jovial_Shepherd/The_Face_of_God) State of the Theory is brought to you by Hannah Fitzpatrick and Anindya Raychaudhuri Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/stateofthetheorypodcast) or Tweet us @drhfitz and @DrAnindyaR