Politics of belonging, from national to personal: The political framing of 'Dutch' identity and ethnic minority citizens

Why do nations still matter in citizenship studies? In this chapter, we explore this question from an individual, lived, perspective and argue that the macro-level of the nation-state is very relevant for citizens who are seen as ethnic and religious minorities. Using the case of the Netherlands, we show how experiences of highly educated Moroccan and Turkish Dutch individual citizens are influenced by the dominant discourse about citizenship and national belonging circulated by state actors. In the first part of this chapter, we show that national state actors play crucial roles in the creation and persistence of this citizenship discourse. In the second part, we reveal how these ‘politics of belonging’ influence feelings of belonging among minority individuals and how this general discourse trickles down into daily interactions, influencing how individuals position and present themselves in concrete social settings. This is based on the empirical data from in-depth interviews with highly educated second-generation Moroccan and Turkish Dutch. The impact of the level of the nation state on experiences of citizens cautions us to not discard the relevance of the nation state too easily when it comes to framing belonging and crafting the parameters of citizenship.