Citizenship Migration and Identity

This paper explores criteria for citizenship in classical Athens and in the early United States as it affected both immigrant males and immigrant females.

In Citizenship in Classical Athens, Josine Blok (2017) suggests the process by which non-Athenians were naturalized as Athenian citizens was one in which prospective citizens were “adopted” into the citizenry. Referring to Kymlicka (2002) and Walzer (1988), Blok defines citizenship as both membership in a community, and the ability to participate in the political activities of that community.

Apollodoros’ Against Neaira ([D].59) presents us with the prosecution of a foreign, manumitted sex worker for her alleged illegal marriage to an Athenian citizen. A naturalized citizen himself, Apollodoros frames power as a zero-sum game in which its illegitimate deployment comes at the expense of Athenian citizens. As Deene has shown, Apollodoros’ performance of citizenship, including public prosecutions and a marriage to a citizen, is concerned with defending the boundaries of citizenship precisely because of his enfranchisement.

In classical Athens, a citizen was a man born of two Athenian parents. But he was also imagined to be autochthonous, that is, indigenous and born of the Athenian soil. Autochthony goes beyond a simple myth of origins. The physical environment was imagined to shape a person: be it climate, geography, topography, or the soil itself, the environment seemed to govern both the physical appearance and moral character of a land’s inhabitants. The land was thus fundamental in defining ethnicity.