Assyrians Without Borders: Middle Eastern Christians Towards a New Form of Citizenship in Sweden Cover Image

Assyrians Without Borders: Middle Eastern Christians Towards a New Form of Citizens in Sweden
Assyrians Without Borders: Middle Eastern Christians Towards a New Form of Citizenship in Sweden

Author(s): Marta Woźniak-Bobińska
Subject(s): Theology and Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Assyrians Without Borders; Middle Eastern Christians; Assyrians; Syriacs; Syriac Orthodox Church; Sweden; citizenship; NGO

Summary/Abstract: Marta Woźniak-BobińskaThis article presents a case study of a Swedish-based NGO, Assyrians Without Borders (AWB), whose priority objective is to help Middle Eastern Christians, mainly Assyrians/Syriacs, in need in their homeland. The paper argues that Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden have developed three forms of citizenship – religious, political and democratic. All three forms are transnational and have the potential to challenge the idea of national citizenship as being the dominant model of citizenship. Participating in AWB is understood as practising democratic citizenship, a concept seen as the Swedish ideal of model citizenship. The paper claims that AWB empowers its members and helps them to construct a mutually reinforcing dual Assyrian-Swedish identity

  • Issue Year: 54/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 63-80
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: English