2025 Research Days
Binghamton Research Days Student Presentations


The Passport Paradox: When Citizenship Becomes a Weapon

Author: Rayaan Lodi

Field of Study: Social Sciences

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Alexandra Moore

Easel: 47

Timeslot: Midday

Abstract: The US and EU are often viewed as safe havens for those who are being politically silenced under oppressive governments. Acquiring US/EU citizenship is often considered a solution to the lack of political agency of those escaping these regimes, but if access to citizenship is controlled by the state, to what extent does this new citizenship status solve this problem? This research focuses on Kurdish people who have escaped persecution at the hands of the Turkish government and resettled in one of these host regions. This research will demonstrate how the US/EU use citizenship acquisition as a tool to delimit the political agency of Kurds who have resettled there. Due to international negotiations between Turkey and the US/EU, foreign policy goals, and the individual dynamics of resettlement, resettled Kurds find that their political agency is still limited by the same repressive policies they sought to escape from.