ABSTRACT
In Thresholds: A Prosody of Citizenship, Lisa Robertson posits language at the origin and as constitutive of all political subjects. She explains that discourse is ‘unmoored to any stable geographic or architectural foundation,’ yet also acknowledges that speaking subjects are ‘administratively identified by shared, conventional borders, and a historical concept of collective and individual rights or those rights’ withdrawal.’ Following the 2016 Brexit referendum, this chapter asks of the consequences to the linguistic subjectivity of European citizens living in the UK. Drawing from Jacques Derrida’s seminar on hospitality in which he explains the difference between unconditional and conditional hospitality, this chapter shows how the new ‘Settled Status’ restricts the applicant’s freedom of movement, while citizenship, which preserves the freedom of movement, is, in fact, conditional on the subject’s command of the English language and therefore alters the applicant’s relationship to the English language and his/her linguistic subjectivity. This chapter was originally written in French for the 23rd International Symposium in Phenomenology held in Perugia, Italy, and translated into English by the author.
