Examines theories of how citizenship is mediated between lived experiences and formal entitlements in order to map out, confine, extend, name, and enact the boundaries of belonging to a polity. This book assembles deep traditions in social and political thought to provide a examination of acts of citizenship in this useful way.

It also addresses key historical and contemporary issues that are of vital importance to citizenship studies today, using the vantage points of aesthetics, justice, ethics, and the political. Its theoretical and analytical chapters are supplemented with shorter essays providing illustrative examples of 'acts'.

IntroductionPart 1: Politics, Ethics, Aesthetic1. Theorizing Acts of Citizenship - Engin Isin2. Can Acts of Citizenship be Creative? - Melanie White3. Mediations for an Ethics of Citizenship - Bettina Bergo. Levinas4. Beyond Camp and Kampf: Theorizing Non-Citizens - William WaltersActs I: Heroic Intrusions and the Body of LawAct 1. Abraham and Isaac - Charles WellsAct 2. Antigone - Charles WellsAct 3. Socrates Trial - Bora Ali IsyarAct 4. Euthanasia - Bora Ali IsyarAct 5. Soldier-Citizen-Hero - Darryl Burgwin, Pat TillmanPart 2: Citizens, Strangers, Aliens, Outcasts5. Acts of European Citizenship: Historical Foundations, New Departures - John Keane6. Arendt's Concept of Action: Dublin Urban mis-Planning as Act of Citizenship - Kieran Bonner,7. America: Acts of Citizenship without Polis - Brian Singer8. No One is Illegal between City and Nation - Peter NyersActs 2: Exclusions without namesAct 6. Turkey and the E.U. - Erkan ErcelAct 7. Checkpoints - Irus BravermanAct 8. The Romani - Ebru UstundagAct 9. Return to Guatemala - Karine Cote-BoucherAct 10. East-West (The Joke) - Ian MorissonPart 3:
Sites of Answerability9. Acts of Citizenship in Multi-Voiced NYC: Wodiczko's The Homeless Projection - Fred Evans10. Acts of Chinese Citizenship: Tank Man and Tank Driver as Dialogized Forms - Yon Hsu11. Answerability with Cosmopolitan Intent: An Ethics Based Politics for Acts of Citizenship - Greg M. NielsenActs 3: Rituals and PerformanceAct 11. Irish Acts of Memory - Ian MorrisonAct 12. Outsiders in City Politics - John SaundersAct 13. Flash Mobs - John SaundersAct 14. Spike Lee's 25th Hour (2002) - Erkan Ercel