Redefining Citizenship in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand

“At a time when a disunited Kingdom is engaged in an almost byzantine debate about Brexit in which some protagonists are seeking to rekindle the flames of empire, Jatinder Mann’s impressive book offers a rigorous analysis of how the relations between Britain and its closest dominions became severely weakened if not entirely severed. Carefully examining the way citizenship was redefined in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand between the 1950s and 1970s, Mann demonstrates how changing global geopolitical relations, the strengthening of demands for indigenous people’s rights, and increasingly diverse non-British immigration patterns moved the basis of majority settler forms of national identity towards varying multicultural and bicultural frames of belonging. This book is essential reading for students of the political history of British settler states, within and across these area studies, and will be invaluable for citizenship specialists, especially with expertise in ethnic and indigenous studies, still debating whether the British World is being revived or is irretrievably lost.” — David Pearson, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University of Wellington
“The diverse array of citizens of settler colonizer nations need to know their full story. This clearly written and courageously comparative history demonstrates how at the end of the British world, three nation-states redefined citizenship from a concept based upon race, status, and links to Britain to one based upon civic rights and responsibilities. This meticulously researched book will be a must-read for scholars interested in national identity, political and legal history, and the history of indigenous resistance.” — Ann McGrath (AM, FASSA, FAHA), Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellow and W.K. Hancock Professor of History, School of History, Australian National University "This review goes to press well after the book’s publication, yet it is precisely because of its on-going relevance through its historical comparative country study that reviewing it is important. The book is a window into current issues relevant to legislation and policies around citizenship in the twenty-first century and valuable for those interested in the history of citizenship in Commonwealth countries … Mann’s book speaks beyond legal citizenship to political conceptions of citizenship … The Australian experience of colonisation is an interesting comparator in the book’s analysis as Mann argues that the differences between Australia and New Zealand on the one hand and Canada on the other can be contrasted through the latter’s non-British French-Canadian experience, and that Australia and New Zealand can be contrasted through the Māori population’s original treaty foundations and long-standing political representation in its national parliament … The book is structured around three chapters devoted to each country, and then a fourth chapter of comparative analysis. Each is rich in material considering the extensive archival research undertaken by Mann and highlights fascinating historical data … In thinking about territorial structures, the impact of external events is also identified by Mann as a focus for the decline in British identity in all countries … Ultimately, citizenship is a national status, and what happens externally beyond the nation profoundly impacts on the domestic. This comparative work assists historians, political scientists, and legal scholars in reflecting on these significant aspects of membership and national identity in an ever-changing world." — Kim Rubenstein, History Australia
"Mann’s valuable study enriches our understanding of how citizenship laws changed in response to the passing of the British World and gestures towards some of the motivations behind early Indigenous activism for distinctive citizenship rights." — Harry Hobbs, University of Technology Sydney
“This book is a groundbreaking comparative study of Canada, Australia, and Aotearoa New Zealand and the shift from ethnic forms of British-based national identity to civic and potentially more inclusive varieties during the 1960s and 1970s. This crucial shift in identity has been inadequately studied until now. Jatinder Mann’s insightful and impeccably researched book, based on a wealth of primary sources, casts new light into the connections between national identity and citizenship in settler states. It correlates major changes in conceptions of national self and other with the rise and decline of the British imperial system. An impressive addition to the literature on citizenship studies, Indigenous peoples, and racialized peoples.” —David B. MacDonald, Professor and Research Leadership Chair for the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, Department of Political Science, University of Guelph
"The richly detailed discussion provided in Mann’s compelling comparative account of citizenship as a status and set of rights will be of wide interest to scholars of history, political science and sociology. It will also be of interest to those doing work in the multidisciplinary areas of citizenship studies, migration studies, Indigeneity, and settler colonial studies." — Yasmeen Abu-Laban, University of Alberta