Citizenship and discomfort: Wearing (clothing) as an embodied act of citizenship

Abstract

This article contributes to research on citizenship and belonging in the post-Brexit white East European migration to the UK. It explores wearing a garment as an act of citizenship and an embodied methodology. It is formed of two interrelated parts: the first presents the argument that wearing a particular garment at a specific spatio-temporal juncture can be considered an act of citizenship. The second part proposes wearing as an affective method in researching citizenship that has the potential to explore the sensory and emotional dimensions of (non)belonging. White embodiments and discomfort are two threads that connect the main arguments. The article builds on autoethnographic notes made after preparing for a job interview as a white East European woman wearing a Victorian male costume while travelling from East to South London in the wake of the General Election on 12 December 2019.